Rise of Leviathan
by BlackAdder42
Summary: "In the end, it isn't hope that called out to me. Not the desire for someone to save them, to give them mercy. I failed at that once, and would never be able to answer that call. It was vengeance. The simple human need to make sure that whoever hurt you, whoever hurt those you love, will never be able to do so again. To ensure that even should you die, that your enemies would too."
1. Chapter 1: Spite

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Well, I was inspired by several other fanfics devoted to this particular crossover, and I hope that I don't shame them in the process of this. This fiction was the joint effort of myself and a writer who I only know by the name of Carlos Andare, not his real name of course. Hope you all enjoy it, and don't forget to read and review!

* * *

 _"I, being of legal age, of my own free will without coercion, promises, or inducement of any kind, after having been duly advised and warned of the consequences of this oath, swear to uphold the institutions of the Unified Earth Government against all enemies, foreign and domestic; to protect and defend Earth and her colonies; to obey lawful orders of the High Command of the United Nations Space Command, I hereby accept responsibility for the defense of humanity. So help me God."_

* * *

Explosions topside shook dust from the ceiling of the bunker that was the base's warehouse. The dim red emergency lighting flickered, died. Darkness filled the octagonal chamber and the smoky hallways beyond, momentarily banished by a stutter of gunfire or the week, ill-looking pool of light cast off by the occasional glowstick. The smell of spent cordite mixed with that of blood, ruptured intestines, and burning metal.

"We're fucked, Sarge," a Marine whimpered as he dropped back down behind the makeshift barrier.

The Sergeant in question snorted. "You figure? That's why we're going to fuck 'em back."

He loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle and took aim down the hallway. The fighting hadn't quite broken past the thick steel door at the end of the hallway, but that was due to change any time soon.

The assorted Marines and other personnel had been in the middle of their now-daily routine, preparing supplies to be picked up, dropped off, or shipped out to other bases along the Pacific in order to try and keep the war effort going. They hadn't known what hit them. No warning, nothing but the vaguest idea that the Abyssals had been in the area, and suddenly they'd been struck.

The fleet assigned to the supposedly hidden port had already sortied out to intercept, and later, hunt down two other Abyssal battlegroups in the area, leaving just a token force to defend the base. Nobody knew whether it was just a stroke of luck, or a malevolent intelligence that brought the Abyssals here, but everyone knew that it wouldn't be enough to drive off a truly concerted effort on the enemy's part.

Behind them, technicians were hard at work setting up the spare summoning equipment-the main chamber had been destroyed in the initial bombardment. It was a longshot, but right now, every little chance was worth taking.

Sgt Garrick had been stationed with his platoon as little more than babysitters, and while they had initially resented the posting now found themselves as being the only ones even holding off the tide of pale-skinned horrors attacking them. Toothed aerial craft swooped into the hallways to try and pick off the defenders, only to be presented with a wall of lead from the dug in platoon as they used the underground corridors to their advantage, making the Abyssals pay for every inch with blood. Sadly, the only blood being spilled that didn't come from the nearly disposable enemy drones was instead coming from Garrick's fellow marines, having lost more than half of their number during the defence in the first ten minutes. And the veteran soldier knew that even that was a near miracle given what they were up against….

"INCOMING!" came the cry from another marine as the sound of shelling came once again, and somewhere within the complex Garrick heard one of the demonic explosives strike true, a hallway bursting with flame and ejecting smoke into the chamber as the Abyssals tried to blast them out of the reinforced bunker. It wouldn't be long until the true thrust came from their ship-women, those infernally calm females with skin like a corpse as they hunted humanity…

Tracers lept down the hallway like a shower of meteors, sparking off the ink-black hulls of the destroyers that made up the Abyssal vanguard. One of them opened its mouth. Its cannon peeked out from between those shining white teeth, took aim, and belched fire and smoke. One moment, Garrick had been firing his rifle. The next, he was a splash of red on the floor. But the round didn't detonate, not yet. It burst into a ball of smoke and flame against the door to their back, denting the metal.

Beyond it was the makeshift summoning chamber.

Beyond it was their last hope.

Following the leader's example, another of those infernal creatures opened its mouth. Instead of sending a round downrange, it ate an anti-tank rocket courtesy of a Japanese Petty Officer. The rocket sent a lance of molten copper deep into the creature's gut, ripping through its relatively thin skin and weak flesh, igniting its ammunition stock. The gunners quickly ducked behind the barricades as shrapnel sailed overhead. It took but a moment for the defensive fire to resume. Every moment spent fighting and dying meant a moment bought for the engineers, another chance for a miracle to happen as they exhausted the base's stock of materials.

The Abyssals didn't care however, and their advance was only slowed, not stopped. Again the leader opened her jaws and sent another round downrange, slamming into the reinforced door and causing it to buckle. Armsmen fired a veritable hail of small arms fire, while the Petty officer tried to aim another rocket, only to have one of the aerial drones ram the unfortunate soldier and cause him to fall back, the rocket flying upwards to impact on the ceiling. Glowing blue eyes watched impassively as the bullets bounced off chalk-white skin, and a return volley of anti-aircraft fire was spent to rip human bodies apart, casting a momentary silence into the hallway.

The clacking of heels echoed in the sudden silence as the destroyer stepped up towards the damaged portal. Delicate looking hands grabbed at rents in the thick metal and pulled, causing the steel to scream in protest as it was hauled out of its moorings and cast aside like the scrap that it had been reduced to. One of the wounded Marines picked himself up and pulled the pin on a grenade, rushing towards her with a ragged scream. He knew he was going to die. If not now, then soon. And with that thought in mind, he clutched the grenade between them as he held her in his arms. "Die you fuckers!"

The grenade did in fact go off, and the Abyssal let out a shriek as it exploded, obliterating the marine and leaving a savage wound in the destroyer's torso, spilling black fluid like blood along the floor… yet her inhuman constitution kept her alive. "Systems… damaged…" she seemed to mutter, while another Abyssal came up behind her. Sparing only a glance for her fellow, the new one looked at the frightened technicians. It had been close. So close. If they'd had another ten, even five, minutes more… They might have succeeded indeed. There were enough materials to bring forth a battleship, and enough personnel that their combined wishes would have pierced the veil of life and death to call on even a ship's soul.

Not close enough though. The Ri-class looked condescendingly on the gathered humans before summoning her weapons, the cannons pointing at the assembled techs with the finality of the grave before unleashing their first glimpses of hell.

Flames and shrapnel flew through the air as shells exploded, humans screams mixed with the curses that only those who knew they were dead could issue. Through it all the Abyssals watched impassively, unfeeling as they slaughtered without mercy those within. After a minute, only torn bodies and strewn materials were left, with only a few still breathing their last. Seeing that all resistance was crushed, the Ri-class turned away and strode through the open door, leaving the blazing inferno behind.

Engineer Aki Ishikawa looked up through the smoke and flames as he coughed bloody phlegm from ruined lungs, and he saw the Abyssals leaving with contempt, and a world of sorrow and grief came down upon him. His vision blurred and darkened as his hand clutched itself into a fist, bleeding over the lines and circles one of the techies had drawn on the floor. It was a shot in the dark, but he'd done something, hadn't he? Buying time was all that mattered. The summoning process had begun, but he could see that without others around, there was no way that it would result in any way that they had wanted. 'Fuck you... bitch,' he thought as he let out a last sigh.

Light washed over his face as glassy, lifeless eyes stared back. Within the smoke and flame, something moved, dragging itself up as items all over the room began to disappear. Steel, wiring, ammunition, all began to slip away into the void as the ritual continued haphazardly. Though no one could see it, other things were drawn in as well. The weapons of the marines that had fought and died, their dog tags, their bodies… If others had been able to witness some might have even said their souls were drawn in.

Nor was it only the defenders at the mercy of the ritual-gone-awry. The damaged and destroyed Abyssals too were slowly dragged to the epicenter of the summoning chamber, their bodies devoured by the empty black hole that was forming in the center. A Ho-class was swallowed feet first as her lifeless face remained blank, a Tsu-class torn in two was dragged next, and several destroyed drones followed suit. Only once there was nothing but the flames dying down did it seem to cease, leaving nothing but a darkened chamber, and the faint sound of something moving…


	2. Chapter 2: Sunken Hopes

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Again, co-written by Carlos Andare.

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names_

* * *

 _"Minotaur is down, I repeat, Minotaur is down!"_

 _"Dive, dive, dive! Hit your burners, pilot!"_

 _"Falcon 2 is hit! Seraphs are all over us, we need support from Scimitar!"_

 _"Mac round impact confirmed! Corvette destroyed!"_

 _"There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals and their warrior Elites. They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant is ground-side. Massing near the armory!"_

Admiral Stanforth heard it all with the back of his mind as he directed his own bridge crew. "I want a time-to-target strike on that Assault Cruiser. Both MAC rounds followed by Archer pods 3-9. Hit 'em and gut 'em people," he said, while watching the _Say My Name_ take out an un-shielded Corvette with its own magnetic accelerator cannon.

 _"Evacuate forward decks. Brace for impact!"_

A Frigate spun out of formation, its forward third reduced to so much slag by a plasma torpedo. It fired off its remaining missile pods in a futile attempt at retribution before a second torpedo struck it directly amidships, causing it to vanish in a flash of light. Its sister ships didn't take it lying down though, and the Paris-class frigates threw their rage out at the offending cruiser, battering its shields down with MAC rounds and salvo upon salvo of Archer missiles, shredding the starboard side with close in fire while one of the frigates was destroyed in a vicious counter-strike. The cruiser let loose one last salvo, gutting a third frigate before it finally had enough. It burst open like a ripe watermelon, its plasma reactor spewing blue fire out while hull plates flew off in all directions.

Despite the seemingly even exchange, and Stanforth chuckled mirthlessly at such a statement, he knew it was an illusion. The UNSC had a hard enough time claiming victory when facing the Covenant at three to one odds, and here they were facing the opposite. 300 Covenant vessels, three entire fleets, against the ragged remains of Reach's own defensive force. The _Herodotus_ was the next to die: a needle-thin beam of charged particles from a distance of one hundred thousand kilometers bisected the ship from bow to stern. That damnable sniper-ship showed that it wasn't done. As he winced, Stanforth felt the emergency thrusters fire off the port side to swerve the Marathon-class cruiser out of the way of a plasma torpedo barrage. Most of the torpedoes sailed past, but one splashed against the hull. Armor plates vaporized and structural beams twisted and buckled. Munitions in ruined defense guns and missile pods cooked off in small fireworks explosions.

"Hephaestus, status report!" he called out to the ship's AI, who appeared on a projector next to him.

" _We just lost the port-side stabilizers and attitude thrusters, and Archer pod 10 is gone. So are 8 and 9, but they was already empty,_ " the AI said as the blacksmith-looking AI spoke. " _We've got a coolant leak to our reactor, but the techs are working on it already. I do not recommend we take another hit there._ "

"We may not have the choice. Have the _Tharsis_ and _Musashi_ cover our flanks and increase our fighter screen. Tell Gamma group to hit that Battlecruiser from the other side and take pressure off the ODPs. If we lose those then we can kiss this fight goodbye. Don't want to give our enemies TOO much of a handicap, you know?" he said grimly.

* * *

She shuddered as the fires were doused by venting atmosphere, her flank still burning from the heat as she sweated her coolant out into space. Hephaestus was still bugging her for any other problems, but none of them were important enough for her to bother her Admiral with. The foe had already taken too many of her sisters as it was, and _Leviathan_ wanted blood in return! Sighting her MAC on another purple-hulled cruiser she spat defiance at the alien ship, and rejoiced as it shook under the twin volley, turning its bulbous head to face her even as she let loose another Archer pod. The _Marathon_ class' heart, a deuterium fueled reactor, currently operating at 120% of its normal output, beat fiercely as she felt the pinpricks of Seraph plasma cannons stitching across her armor. Hephaestus' digital magic guided the fury of her point defense guns, smashing the Covenant craft as they came around for another pass.

 _Levi_ had rejoiced at the inclusion of the AI into her systems, as it let her speak with her Admiral a lot more clearly than without it. A part of her was irksome that he could only sometimes understand her perfectly without the go-between, but Stanforth had commanded her nearly since her construction, more than 40 years ago, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. Hephaestus just made it easier to do her job, and that alone meant that she was willing to put up with him.

As it was, she was focused on the battle around her. To her rear, _Trafalgar_ cried out as she received the fury of no less than nine different capital ships, the plasma torpedoes burning their way through her decks and docking bays. She burned alive, shedding overstuffed escape pods as she desperately tried to keep herself together while sparing her crew. Her children, more than 100 Longswords and Rapiers, all shouted in grief and rage as they and their pilots sought retribution against their mother's killers.

Another torpedo struck her face, vaporizing armor. But the afflicted section had been evacuated. No blood was spilled but hers. Unfortunately the same could not be said of others. The sniper-ship - may whatever Hell awaited her kind in death take her - speared _Musashi_ , gutting her with its projector. _Leviathan_ watched as the carrier was cut in half amidships, her engines still burning to get into position while the stricken front tumbled away.

* * *

"Sir, we're getting torn apart out here! HIGHCOM just reported the loss of two more ODPs, and that THING out there can hit us from beyond our range!" the comms officer said.

"Calm yourself sailor. I know it's bad, I don't need the pencil-pushers to tell me that," Stanforth said. The man was fiddling with something in his hands as he spoke, an old fashioned chrome-plated lighter that he lit while putting a Sweet William cigar to his mouth. "Tell the _Autumn_ that she's clear for RED FLAG and point us at the heart of their right-most command group."

* * *

 _Levi_ could smell the smoke through her bridge's fire detection system. If she could, she would have frowned. She'd always hated those things, but if they made her Admiral able to stay calm she wasn't one to talk. The cruiser had just fired off the last Archer pod on her left flank and queried her stocks. She had less than 10% remaining. Looking to her group's flank, Levi's sister ship _Say My Name_ grit her teeth as she husbanded her ammunition, but fought with fury more than enough to match her elder sister.

Things were coming down to the wire now. They'd always known that it would. The Covenant had been coming down hard on humanity for more than 25 years, and they'd been pushed back the entire time. It was only a matter of time until they found Reach.

Looking back at the sniper-bitch, _Leviathan_ 's eyes widened as she saw it lash out at the _Pillar of Autumn_ , its projector scoring a solid hit on the aging _Halcyon_ 's hull. To her surprise, the old girl bore it with a grunt, whirling on her axis and causing the beam to burn a spiral on her newly upgraded armor plating. The old woman grinned as the beam tapered off, as she was now in a perfect position to make her revenge. _Autumn_ opened up with a triple-shot from her new MAC, an experimental weapon to ensure her success in Operation RED FLAG. It smashed the sniper's shields like a sledgehammer on glass. The purple and ivory bitch cried out, more in surprise than pain.

The Covenant vessel aimed again, but _Autumn_ just grinned like the devil herself. A split-second radio transmission ignited the Havoc warhead that had slipped under the distracted sniper's replenished shields, turning the defense into a deathtrap as they now served to focus the fury of the detonation into the hull. Only ash remained.

 _Leviathan_ 's engines purred in delight as they revved up, moving ahead with purpose as she squared off against what seemed to be the enemy's flagship. IFF tagged it Tango Alpha 9, but the enemy's own signal said it was the _Seeker of Truth_. Given how it seemed to be issuing orders to its fellows, it was a safe bet that this ship was the brains behind this part of the fleet, and Levi had no qualms about going toe to toe with her.

Unfortunately the _Seeker_ 's escorts weren't going to have any of that, and they let loose their plasma torpedoes to deter her. She only fired her missiles in kind. The nuclear surprise among them however detonated in a bright actinic light. The electromagnetic pulse disrupted the Covenant torpedoes' plasma bottles, dispersing the gas and ultimately nullifying the salvo.

Rebooting her sensors, the ship-equivalent of blinking away the spots in her eyes, she saw that she'd succeeded in getting in close. One of the escorts however, a heavy corvette, had anticipated her charge and replied by doing so itself. Purple and gun-metal grey hulls slammed together and rebounded as _Leviathan_ and the Corvette, weighing as much as herself, if not a bit more, each reeled back in pain.

Superstructure buckled and internal systems collapsed from the hull stresses, and if not for the timely actions of one of the weapons techs who'd seen it coming doing an emergency shut down of her Archers' warheads her starboard bow pods would have likely exploded, taking her out of the fight entirely. As it was the brave tech, Ensign Dereck Owens, serial number 00721-96423-DO, was killed in the impact, his body crushed by the same ordnance he'd stopped from exploding.

 _Leviathan_ reeled from the collision as the _Seeker_ charged another torpedo, unable to do anything as it slammed into her spine just as she came back to awareness. The plasma carved a path through her hull just above the bridge and down the length of the midship's MAC barrel, ruining the weapon and killing almost a full quarter of her crew. Exposed and unable to effect damage control, fires ate at her innards as systems crashed all over her causing her to drift.

 _Say My Name_ moved with her group to engage and protect her sister-ship as the _Tharsis_ was also shot down, only to be forced away by pulse laser fire from a corvette wolf-pack. The one that had rammed _Leviathan_ finally shook off its torpor, curving around to try and finish off its prey, the entire starboard side of its hull sheared off and bleeding off both plasma and oxygen, yet its focus on Leviathan was such that it didn't seem to notice.

 _"_ Leviathan! _Don't you die on us yet!"_

She couldn't be sure if it was from her fellow ships or her imagination, or if it was from one of her own crew-members, but the words pierced the core of her self, forcing her back into awareness as the Corvette came around. Looking back, she saw another of their command ships, a fellow _Marathon_ -class named _Hannibal_ charge in as she had, only to be torn apart by concentrated fire, then finished off by an energy beam that dismembered her aft and detonated the reactor inside. She looked at _Say My Name_ , who still fought, having expended all of her Archers and was now using her close-defence weapons to tear chunks out of enemy Corvettes, even using them at range to do what damage they could against unshielded cruisers, but that didn't change the reality of the situation…

* * *

Stanforth pulled himself back into his chair, coughing as he felt one of his ribs protest the motion. Looking around, Lt Kinners was dead at her spot at the sensor station, a piece of her own console lodged in her skull and pinning it to her chair, while his engineering officer Lt Williams was out cold, and unlikely to wake up before the battle's end. Lt Daniels was still alive, though he was bleeding from a cut on his side and his arm was dislocated, so at least that was something. "Zach, get me Admiral Kimmerson on _Say My Name_ ," he said. The man nodded his assent, trying to get his comms station back up and running. Soon enough he had a solid connection, and the viewscreen came up in front of him.

" _Stanforth, you alive in there old man?_ " Kimmerson said.

"Heh, takes a little more than a suntan to get me down Tom. Still, while I have no doubt you'd love to add to your kill markers, I'm going to have to ask you to leave this to me..."

The admiral frowned at his fellow officer's words. _"Harold, you aren't seriously telling me to leave this theater, are you? We've got too much to lose here, we can't…"_

"Kimmerson if you don't get clear from here I swear, dead or alive, I will come over there and throttle you! This isn't going to be the end and you know it. There are things more important than here…"

Kimmerson grimaced as he heard. _"Regardless, we can't just abandon our positions here. We've still got some numbers, we can still do some hurt to these bastards…"_

"Not without losing you old friend. You're the last command ship we've got, damnit. Whitcomb's out, and Hood's already at Earth. You're the only one who's been through this from start to finish Tom… You were there at Harvest," he said. "You saw what they did, what they'll do here… I don't need to tell you what they'll do to Earth if they get to her…"

 _"Then why…?"_

"Because I'm not going anywhere… And if you don't there won't be anyone of enough rank left to organize the withdrawal." Stanforth puffed at his cigar again as he gave a meaningful look to his friend. "Get clear Tom… Do some good and keep who you can alive. Don't throw yourself away like I'm doing, hmmm?"

Kimmerson was quiet as he took in his friend and fellow admiral's words, before sighing. _"You had to pin this on me, didn't you? Is this revenge for that incident in the Academy?"_

Stanforth had to chuckle. "You brought it on yourself friend… Do me a favor though… Tell Melissa I'm sorry."

 _"I will…"_ he said. _"Godspeed sailor… Make them pay."_

"Wilco Admiral, wilco…" he said, shutting the connection and turning to Daniels. "Give me propulsion, I want to at least take down that bastard who tagged us… Make sure that they remember us in Hell…"

The weapons officer nodded grimly, turning to the engineering station and moving past the unconscious Williams. "Propulsion is only able to get up to 80% thrust, and that's by pushing the reactors…"

"Push them. Fire them up to 200%."

"...As you wish Admiral."

* * *

 _Leviathan_ watched as her sister ship pulled away, _Say My Name_ 's radio practically screaming apologies as she fell back, calling the other surviving ships away with her. The stricken flagship groaned as her superstructure flexed and her reactors respond to her Admiral's command. With only one working weapon and a shattered hull, _Levi_ was a dead ship and she knew it. Still, she could at least make her killers pay… As the Corvette came in, she brought her dorsal MAC gun in line to point at the vessel's nose, grinning as she launched the 600 ton tungsten steel projectile at a fraction of the speed of light, smashing the purple bitch in the face!

As the corvette reeled, cored through and losing power, she still managed a glancing blow that scraped _Leviathan_ across her chin, and Admiral Stanforth's last act was to laugh as the ship tore his bridge from her hull along with most of her belly. Unheard and unseen, _Levi_ screamed in grief as her Admiral died, and she felt a literal piece of her soul go with him as she floated away.

Her systems were still flickering in and out as she shuddered and shook. The Covenant deemed her a relatively easy kill at this point, most of them turning towards healthier foes as the UNSC fleet fell back, retreating into Slipspace on random vectors. Looking towards Reach, the world she'd sworn to protect, the world that had given her safe haven and a friendly port, _Leviathan_ could see that it was already burning. Covenant vessels descended into its atmosphere to burn away city after city, turning its verdant green plains into black deserts of glass and fire. The polar caps weren't spared, and the snow and ice evaporated into the air, only to be further boiled off until it escaped the bounds of the Ozone and burst out into space, lost forever.

The screams were the worst part. All over her radio she could hear the people below dying, screaming upwards for someone, anyone to save them, only to go silent as they went unanswered. Soldiers calling for support or extraction, only to hear nothing in return. It was heartbreaking on its own, but with the loss of her admiral, and her own crew dying both from the failing life support and the boarding teams the Covenant were sending onto her, filling her decks with their vile presence and slaughtering the men and women who'd served with her faithfully…

It was too much. In that instant, surrounded by death and horror and flame and the cold embrace of airless space, _Leviathan_ felt herself break. A scream that echoed as static throughout over all the channels available to her was ripped out of the ship as her interior lighting shut off… She floated there, dead to all and silent while the planet sought to join her in death, soldiers and citizens alike dying to unfeeling alien hands. Eventually, the pleas fell silent, as the inevitable crushing of hope occurred and those with nothing left simply went quiet…

But not all... Some still fought onwards, spurred not by hope, but by spite. The sheer determination to not let the enemy win in any way, shape, or form that they could prevent. These threw their voices over the comms in messages of sheer vitriolic defiance. Of taunting their foe even as they died, of cursing them and their ancestors, their false gods and their questionable mating habits. Sheer rage and resolve, that if they were to die, they'd take every single one of their inhuman killers with them to the grave.

One of these was a lowly engineer, just a technician that worked in _Leviathan_ 's engine room. As he heard the Covenant's boarding teams getting closer, he crawled his way towards a panel. Desperately, he began inputting commands into it, trying to force in commands to reignite the engine despite the lack of weapons and commands.

* * *

"Come on girl, wake up… I know you can, just do it!" Ensign Carver muttered as he furiously spliced wires and connections. Sweat dripped off his forehead, while his burnt-off foot curled smoke into the air. Still, he kept working, adrenaline and shock keeping pain away while he worked.

Suddenly, he was yanked away by a four-fingered hand and lifted into the air. A blue-armored Elite snarled at the man, mandibles flexing as he looked at the human in his hands dangling uselessly. Carver blinked before pure fury engulfed him, and he hefted the screwdriver in his hand and brought it down like a knife on the Sangheli's knee, causing it to drop him more in surprise than actual pain, the alien's shields having kept the point from penetrating. Carver didn't let that stop him from continuing to try though, scrambling up one on foot and stabbing away again and again, the sheer ferocity of his attack causing the Elite to backstep.

It wasn't enough though, and eventually the Sangheli recovered, kicking the Ensign up and over, causing him to crash into the panel again, shattering its touchscreen panels and lacerating his back. His back in agony, Carver looked up just in time to find a forked plasma blade impale him. The Elite leaned in, growling in contempt at the human who'd defied him… only for Carver to spit in the alien's eye.

"Rot in... hell asshole…" he said. "May your gods… choke on every last soul… they try to steal… And burn… like you tried to do to us…" His vision was going cloudy now, but he wanted at least one more shot. Aiming, he threw the screwdriver at the Elite's face, the tool bouncing off of its shields and clattering uselessly. Despite this, the action seemed to at least succeed in making the alien feel insulted, as it responded by tearing its blade out of Carver's chest and bringing it down on his head…

* * *

A smell came to her then. Or maybe it wasn't a smell. Maybe it was a feeling? Whatever it was, it was strange… strange enough that it pulled her out of her fugue. All around her _Leviathan_ could see that the battle was still in its ending stages, and that the Covenant were just about done mopping up. Nonetheless, there was something wrong, something that she was feeling that she shouldn't have…

Ah yes, that was it, wasn't it? Unsatisfied. That was what she was feeling. Everyone else had died fighting, and yet she was still here, wasn't she? That wasn't right… Looking around, she watched as a Covenant carrier cycled its complement, taking in spent fighters and launching fresh ones, blissfully unaware-or uncaring-of the still-aware ship above it. Ensign Carver had succeeded in at least one thing… her reactors were still hot, still had power in them. Power enough to equal a small star within their titanium and steel shells. And he'd connected them back to her as well. Hephaestus was the only thing left on board, and he was busy keeping the Covenant from getting anything from his systems, deleting his more important functions to deny them anything… There was nothing stopping her from her next course of action.

Engines shuddered to life as she moved ponderously towards the carrier, angling ever so slowly towards the purple-hulled vessel, but speeding up quickly. Deep in _Leviathan_ 's armored hull was one last weapon, one last unexpended warhead, a Shiva tactical nuke. And in front of her was a plethora of targets for her to hit.

The carrier didn't even realize it was in trouble until _Leviathan_ was on top of her, coming out of the black like the tendril of some monster from the deep, like the one she was named after… and the last thing that _Levi_ saw before nuclear fire engulfed her was her foe's absolute terror….


	3. Chapter 3: Risen Horror

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Again, co-written by Carlos Andare.

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names_

 **Bold - Emphasis and general creepiness**

* * *

The Destroyer Princess heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, saw the rubble shifting, and alerted her superiors via radio before vectoring out to search. There was something buried in the rubble, something metallic, massive. Shifted, compressing itself down into a humanoid form as the air around her thrummed with a familiar energy. Pain, hate, despair, sadness. It was the energy of the Abyss.

One of the other commanders, the Light Cruiser Princess, came over to inspect what her junior had found, then prepared to welcome a new sister to the fold. She was certainly larger than anyone that had come before. Who was this? The two Abyssals worked to pull the rubble away from their sister, then watched as she came into the world, ready to exact vengeance on those who had thrown them away and forgotten them as payment for years of loyal service.

The figure rose carefully, obviously unused to her new form and the shift from death to unlife. The Destroyer Princess allowed a puzzled frown to cross her face though. The new Abyssal's rigging seemed… off. It was angular, as opposed to the more organic forms that normally came from their rise. Squarish plates in thick chunks that spoke of solid strength and endurance, yet there were signs of small turrets all over her, as well as other raised panels that spoke of some function not yet identified. Was she like the Aircraft Defence Princess? It certainly seemed so… But that wasn't what really confused the Abyssal. It was the rest of her.

Her form was feminine, that much was still the same, but whereas most Abyssals were dressed in ways that were -to use a human term- rather risque, this one was covered head to toe. Dark grey cloth covered her limbs between black armor plates, molded and strapped to her limbs and torso in a way that spoke of a more practical protection than the preternatural toughness that contrasted between deathly and seductive they usually aimed for. And her head was covered similarly, a black metallic helm that hid her face behind a silvery visor...

Still. This one had to be a sister. Who else felt that way? [Greetings, sister,] the Destroyer Princess spoke. [What is your name and class?]

The newly risen turned, the helmeted head sighting on the lead Abyssal like a radar locking on a target. As the woman turned, the Destroyer saw that its right arm bore a strange weapon slung beneath the forearm. It looked a cannon of some sort, but the end of the barrel held a triangular head with two narrow, slit-like eyes and a toothed maw… Yes, this one HAD to be a sister. The woman seemed to stare at the Princess for a moment, before speaking in a voice that was clipped, almost contemptuous of speaking. "UNSC CA-684 _Marathon_ -class cruiser… Shipname… _Leviathan_ …"

 _Leviathan_ , a fitting name, a proper one for someone risen from the depths. She was probably one of the forgotten British. There was little time to chat however. They had to finish destroying the base before the enemy fleet returned. [Come then,] the Light Cruiser said. [We would appreciate your assistance.]

The helmeted head cocked itself to the side slightly. "Won't you identify yourself first?" she said. "You don't… look like UNSC…"

'United Nations Security Council?' the Destroyer thought with a tilt of her head, before shaking it. [No matter,] she said, [You are no doubt confused as you have just awoken. It will be clear to you soon.]

The woman seemed to be accepting of that for the moment, looking around her at the remains of the base they were standing in, as well as the blue sky above… Wait, blue sky? "Where… are we?"

[We are at Manicani.]

"Manicani?" she said curiously. "What planet is that?"

The Destroyer Princess and her senior exchanged a look. [Earth,] she said. [We are exacting our revenge.] As if to emphasize, the Destroyer Princess trained her gun on a burning bunkhouse and fired, blasting it to splinters.

That one word caused the new ship-girl to stiffen up, the explosion in the bunkhouse ignored as the information and its significance made itself known to her. "And humanity? What is its status?" she asked, showing more focus than she had previously.

A burning seaman's cap fluttered down between them as the Light Cruiser clenched her first. [Humanity will be forgotten. Please, come along with us, _Leviathan_. Exact your revenge.]

The armored ship-girl tightened her fist around her weapon's grip, and a deep growl came from the jaws on the end of its twin barrels. "Your goal... is the extinction of humanity then?" she said, voice eerily calm. "My revenge?"

[Yes, your revenge...] The Light Cruiser Princess took _Leviathan_ 's hand in her own. [They have forgotten you, your service, as they have forgotten ours. They threw you away, only for you to rise here and now. Wield your anger and aid us...]

"Forgotten?" she said, looking up at the Cruiser, then to the others. "You mean… you were sacrificed?" A moment passed before speaking again. "And it meant nothing?"

[We were used and thrown away,] the Light Cruiser Princess said, tightening her grip a little as her body shuddered in sadness and anger. [We thought we would be at peace after we served. But instead we watched as our friends gunned us down, as we were bombed in our slumber, annihilated by nuclear fire, and torn apart and melted down... We watched our sisters die around us at the hands of careless and uncaring men...] Tears began to fall out from beneath her mask as she continued. [We meant nothing to them, not even after our service! Not even as the men who we loved, and whom loved us back, cried out to be saved... and were met with silence or gunfire.]

She squeezed _Leviathan_ 's hand in her own. [Strike them down,] she said, [Make them remember you...]

 _Leviathan_ squeezed the Princess' hand in her own free one, pulling the other woman close as she spoke quietly. "I'm sorry to hear you say that…" she said, real emotion in her voice as she spoke, compassion urging her words. "What was your name…?"

[... _Perth_ ,] she said. [I was _Perth_.]

" _Perth_ … A good name," _Leviathan_ said. "Very well then. I will remember it, even as I fulfill my oath, you will not be forgotten…" she said…

...And shot the woman amidships with her cannon.

The Destroyer Princess stood frozen as she watched her senior's middle disintegrate, a hand clapped over her mouth. The thanks that had been on the Light Cruiser's lips vanished as a shallow wheeze. The little Destroyer's guns trained on the new target even as she took a step back, shaking her head. Betrayal?

Looking at _Leviathan_ showed that the ship-girl's visor had changed from silver to clear, revealing pale skin beneath as she stared into the Light Cruiser's dying eyes, lowering the Abyssal to the ground by the same hand that she had been holding. It was then that she turned to face the Destroyer and the others.

All those touched by the Abyss could tell one another apart easily. It wasn't just the pallid skin, it wasn't just the feelings that were associated with having risen from the depths, nor the aesthetics that normally were attributed to them. There was a look in the eye, a sort of nihilism that tainted every expression and action. Humans had always claimed that the eyes were the window into the soul, and that was as true for those raised by the Abyss as it was with their former creators. As a result, each of the Shinkaisen-kan, the Abyssals, could tell with a glance whether one was summoned as a sister or who was an imposter.

In _Leviathan_ 's eyes there was something there, but it wasn't the Abyss. The Abyss was by concept a cold and unfeeling thing that nonetheless drew its power from the darker aspects of the soul. In her… Those glowing yellow eyes seethed with feelings, but with an intensity that wasn't found in the depths of the sea, or with those the Destroyer Princess had encountered before. They were like stars, burning bright and hot, but not with hope or the silly romantic notions that humans had. Instead this was the heat of roiling gasses crushed and squeezed until they had no choice but to ignite. Of something that had been beaten down and pushed to the brink to the point where an explosion wasn't just imminent, it was inevitable… and the more that it was pushed, the more it fed…

"To protect and defend Earth and her colonies… against all enemies, foreign and domestic…" the woman said, as her cannon's jaws worked themselves open, the lower jaws splitting into two fanged mandibles while its owner grinned with the look of the insane.

 **"May all of humanity's foes burn in hellfire…."**


	4. Chapter 4: Steel Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Again, co-written by Carlos Andare.

Somewhat surprised at how many people have responded so far to what was originally a plot-bunny, but the idea refuses to die so it looks like you all get to see as much as my muse and I will allow!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts  
_

 **Bold - Jarring events  
**

* * *

 _Leviathan_ panted as the smell of burnt propellant wafted in the air around her, shells that had bounced off her armor plating leaving scrapes on her while her MAC gun was held in her hands in a grip that was both familiar and yet completely alien, her turrets kept searching for more targets. Around her were the shattered and bloody remains of several of the pale-skinned beings that had tried to recruit her. At least, that's what it had sounded like to her...

Looking around at the wreckage, her yellow eyes took in the scenes of carnage wrought both by her and those before her upon the area. Reinforced concrete and rebar were shattered and strewn about along with burnt and rent armor plating. Here and there brass casings littered the ground where defenders had obviously put up resistance, though having not seen any made _Leviathan_ curious as to whether they were UNSC or Insurrection. There was something strange nagging at the back of her mind too, even though her HUD display showed that there was no strange readings in the area, and there wasn't any evidence of plasma burns, so she felt safe in ruling out Covenant...

Making her way through the stone and steel wreckage, _Leviathan_ made her way to some sort of shed or side-bunker, where her radio was picking up an open comm signal. There wasn't anything being actually broadcast, but the static that showed up on it was starting to grate at her. Looking around at shattered and scorched equipment, she found the source of her discomfort, a half-melted radio that was still trying to function. Likely from when the defenders were first attacked. No doubt they'd put out an SOS, but given that noone had shown up, it would seem that it was in vain... Reaching out to the device, _Leviathan_ paused for a moment in indecision, then turned the radio off. Silence echoed both through the air and the radio spectrum then, and the cruiser gave it a moment of verbal silence to wish the departed an easy trip to beyond...

Afterwards though, it was back to work trying to find anything mentioning where she was. Manicani wasn't a listing on anything she had available, not that that was much given the fact that she had enacted Protocol, but there might be something to tell her where on Earth it was... If it really WAS Earth and not some trick made by those... people from before.

Ah, there was something there though! A severed arm, definitely human, lay amongst the debris. Moving over to it, _Leviathan_ examined the limb, noting the pale skin and the tattooed geisha on it. Japanese? Picking it up, she checked to see if there were any ID chips within what was left, but there didn't seem to be any sign of them... The half-burnt papers on the wall had some kanji too, if she was reading it right, so that meant that at least those here had some kind of Asian ancestry. Dangling the arm in her hand and turning it over, _Leviathan_ wondered to herself if it had belonged to a soldier at all. After all, this 'Manicani' could be a military post, but it could perhaps have been a civilian port that was reinforced by military forces. Without anyone alive there'd be no way to tell for sure. Still, looking at the limb, she had to wonder who the man might have been. It certainly looked like he would have been a big guy, as the forearm was nearly the size of her own...

That thought caused the cruiser to pause a moment. _Her own?_ Looking down, sure enough, the dismembered limb looked slightly bigger than her own if she took her armor off... but wouldn't that require pulling off her hull plates? Wait, how would that work? She was supposed to be just over a kilometer long, how the HELL would a human arm even get to be...?

 **Pain** shot through her skull at that, the feeling similar to a power surge going through her bridge's computers as two sets of data tried to match but refused to be compatible. Lifting a hand to her head, the _cruiser/woman_ / **neither** pulled off the helmet from her head, letting the smoke-filled air of the radio room touch her face while the scents surrounding her burned into her sinuses, clearing away her thoughts for a moment. Blinking away the slight sting from her eyes, _Leviathan_ looked down at the object now in her hands.

Superficially it resembled the helmets used by the 105th Special Operations Unit, the ODST corps, in that it had a titanium shell with a silver-blue polarizing visor that doubled as a HUD. Along the right side of the helmet's crown in white stenciling was her service number, as crisp as though it had just been painted that day. Yet at the same time, it had substantial differences. Around the visor itself were jagged metal teeth, like those of a shark, made of the same titanium shell and giving the whole thing the look of a predator about to devour something. Intimidating to be certain, and to _Leviathan_ herself it felt fitting, yet at the same time she knew she'd never had a patterning like that before... Neither in paint nor in armor sculpture... Where did it come from?

Looking at the rest of herself showed some other things both similar and yet alien. Her body was covered in what appeared to be a combination of the Navy's grey officer's uniform, the thin armor plates designed to protect against small arms and shrapnel as well as doubling as a space suit in case of a hull breach. Over top of that however were black plates of armor also reminiscent of ODST battle plate, but only as a basis. Around these plates were small turrets or vectored nozzles, her maneuvering thrusters something told her, that were spaced out along _Leviathan's_ limbs and torso. The turrets dotted her shoulders, forearms, the backs of her hands, her hips and calves, while the thrusters came also from hips and calves, as well as just beneath the shoulder pauldrons. Around her waist was a belt with what looked like grenades, but were on closer inspection instead shrunken versions of her SOIEV units, which made her wonder where her Helljumpers were...

On her back though was another story though. Something intrinsic told her that the apparatus that strapped to her back wasn't a mere backpack, it was the majority of her hull. The mechanism was nearly as big as the rest of her, and held her primary engine block on the back-most portions as well as her main hangars, which sat just above the engines. Along the length of this pack as well as on her bicep plates, chest piece, and thigh plates were small hexagonal hatches that _Leviathan_ knew were the openings to her archer pods, many of which were slowly reloading through... some means... The backs of her legs also had some sort of framework that was strapped on, giving her legs more support to keep the weight of her equipment from crushing her while providing mounting for more thrusters. This device also wrapped around to attach to her torso plating, the logo of the UNSC over her left breast in white paint, the wings of the eagle sweeping proudly with the letters beneath its talons.

Finally, there was the device that she'd had in her hands before, which currently was slung from cabling around her torso to keep it from hitting the ground. Examining that proved to be similarly changed from what she'd known beforehand even though her mind had told her what it was already... It was her MAC gun. The weapon which normally ran along her dorsal and central lengths was now integrated into a single weapon system it would seem, though it retained the double-barrel configuration, to appear as a sort of hand-held autocannon. _Leviathan_ would have chuckled, if not for one other change to it...

The muzzle of the weapon bore a face. Not a human one, but instead a conical, almost shark-like face with narrow eye-slits that allowed her targeting systems to make more precise readings, while the the side flanges looked like they hinged to pull out. The design looked like someone tried to breed a shark and a Sangheli with a missile thrown in for good measure... Scary as hell, but it still made for an odd sight, given how _Leviathan_ couldn't remember if she'd ever had anything like that before...

Shaking her head, the cruiser/woman took in the scene of the broken control room again before sighing. There wasn't anything here she'd be able to use, and given how she'd already destroyed or driven off everyone else she could have interrogated, it meant that she would have to find somewhere or someone else to talk to. For now though, it was probably best if she made herself scarce. Sitting in an unknown base that no doubt belonged to somebody was asking for an incident, and if she was going to be caught up in whatever was going on around here, it was going to be on her terms, not somebody else's!

Returning the helmet to her head, the ship-woman stomped her way out of the building to look about with her radar and other senses. Sensing nothing in the immediate area, she looked upwards to see the blue sky above, the afternoon sun shining down. _Leviathan_ had thought that there'd been a satellite up above, but it didn't seem to be answering to any of her signals, which did not bode well. With a huff of disappointment, the cruiser then did a mental checklist to determine her systems were intact before realizing that there was one more thing she should do...

 _'All hands check in...'_

The simple command brought a wave of information from her body and hull, as several voices perked up within her. Huh... So she wasn't completely alone after all. The voices were similar to children, but they felt like they belonged to her, and they were answering from stations that were normally manned by her old crew, so as long as they weren't damaging her insides or doing anything harmful or disruptive she could look into it later. As it was when she checked her bridge... Nothing. Internally, _Leviathan_ had known it was unlikely that her Admiral had survived. After all, she'd SEEN him die, and laughing as he had done so... But she could hope, no?

Feeling that there was no more use in loitering around an abandoned battlefield, _Leviathan_ locked her legs together and started her engines, the newly reborn cruiser slowly ascending up into the sky on a pillar of fire, her heart hidden behind a steel and titanium visage against the world...


	5. Chapter 5: Depth of the Unknown

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Again, previous chapters were co-written by Carlos Andare.

I realized that Kure was actually part of the Japanese main ports, and that felt a little too close to other naval assets for me to justify it as a 'hidden' port for use, so I switched it out to Manicani Island in the Phillipines. Sorry for the confusion! My previous chapters have all been updated to show this as well!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese_

 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Nagato tapped her fingers on the edge of the console, a frown on her beautiful face as her eyes narrowed at the display shown on the electronic map. She was NOT a happy kanmusu at the moment, having heard of Manicani's radio silence after a Mayday was issued. Part of the reason was the knowledge that critical supplies were supposed to have been brought in from the base that the USN and JSMDF had jointly built there, and the Japanese really needed them after the last series of battles against the Abyssals. However, the fact that they'd also had a summoning chamber set up there to act as a backup for the main ones in Japan meant that it had been a place of major strategic value. Its loss was not something that could go ignored, nor could the loss of any shipgirls berthed there be ignored...

"Mutsu, anything yet from the investigative team?" the secretary ship snapped.

"They're still a few miles out, but the drone will be coming into range in a few seconds. We'll have visual on the site then," came the reply from the short-haired woman. "I'm putting it up on screen 3."

Looking over at the displays, an addition that was more than welcome given some of the challenges that the Abyssals gave them in this war, Nagato's red eyes narrowed at the waves slipping past faster than one could blink. Modern technology meant that the world's navies had a hell of an advantage in terms of support against the Abyssals, but that didn't mean squat when the problem of FINDING them before they struck was still present. It didn't matter how much power you had if you couldn't land it after all, and when it all boiled down to it the Abyssals were just too damn good at disappearing and reappearing at will. Even the fleetgirls themselves couldn't spot them until it was too late, despite the seeming similarities between those fighting on both sides of the conflict.

On the drone's camera, the island was coming into view now, smoke curling upwards from multiple places on the shoreline. Some of them were only petering out, the means to sustain themselves long since reduced to coals and ashes as the battle had ended some time ago. The sight of multiple bodies in the water, mostly of the handful of fleet-girls that had been in port at the time, caused her heart to clench. A blonde cruiser torn in half, her stomach looking like rent metal as burning fuel pooled on the water around her as her bottom half had already sunk out of view, gazed sightlessly up at the sky while the shark-like form of an Abyssal destroyer burned just a few meters from her...

As the drone got closer, it began to slow down to a more cautious approach, just in case any other hostiles were still in the area, scanning for their signatures on its small sensor suite and coming back with only scattered ghost returns, no doubt left over from when they vanished. Abyssals seemed to be able to come and go as they willed, appearing in open seas with barely any warning and leaving the same way. They seemed to leave at atmospheric 'stamp' on any area they'd been in though, which made confirming their presence a lot easier, but that didn't do anything to allow them to track the black-hearted bitches back to whatever hole they swam out of.

Nagato's eyes picked over each detail that she could see, the various craters and shattered bunkers telling their grim tale to those who knew what to look for. Several regular humans were also dead on the beach, crabs picking at their carcasses before scuttling off. An AA-mount blown was to hell as well, its shell peeled open by an ammunition explosion that caused the barrels to warp and splay outwards. All in all, it looked like what you'd usually find from the remains of off-shore shelling, followed by in-close fighting to sweep out the survivors.

But there was something off... Not all the damage was consistent with that tale. The burning body of an Abyssal cruiser, her otherwise shapely form in a rictus of pain, was draped over a rock with multiple breaches in her back showing that she'd died from behind... running from something INSIDE the base. Two other bodies, one a destroyer and one an old ironclad, were similarly blasted, their bodies left behind to rust and rot...

THAT was unusual... Even when they lost some of their number, if the Abyssals won they usually took their dead back with them into the deep, much to the frustration of Global Intelligence branches, preventing others from finding out anything more. To see even these few were a literal gold mine to the secret squirrels, but it made her wonder...

"Mutsu, bring me the satellite photos. There was one that went above a little while ago, no?" she asked.

" _H-hai_! It was just a mapping satellite, but it did pass over on its usual pattern... Think there's something there?"

"Maybe... Bring it up will you?"

Sure enough, a few passes over the keyboard later and the photos in question were brought up, the top-down picture from the satellite not the best at determining much but it at least was two hours prior to the drone's arrival... The scene didn't look much different though. Still the same bodies around, the same blast markers...

"Damn... it must have finished faster than I thought," Nagato thought, gritting her teeth in suppressed frustration... Until she caught one detail that was different...

"Mutsu, the radio room... Zoom in on that if you would?" she said, earning a nod and a swift compliance from the battleship girl. Sure enough, as the picture zoomed in, there was something different... The sign of a figure covered in black chitin-steel as it was coming out of the radio shack...

The picture was grainy, as if taken from an old cell-phone yet, still clear enough to see the shape of the target's equipment. The sight of multiple small-caliber guns dotting the female's hulking form as it appeared on the display, looking around through a helmet as though scanning for something. Nagato furrowed her brow as crimson eyes noticed the stenciled number on the woman's head. "I don't think we've seen an Abyssal display its old number before... CA-684... Do we know who that was?" she looked at Mutsu as the other battleship shook her head.

" _Ie_ , not off the top of my head. It looks like an American or British designation though, given the lettering. Maybe we can contact them?" the brunette suggested.

"Hmm... A good idea. Call Admiral Holloway, see what he has to say."

As Mutsu busied herself with the secondary line, Nagato looked back to the snapshot from the drone. Something didn't sit well with her about this...

* * *

"Are you sure? Nothing?"

"The only ones we have with that number are 2 destroyers and a Yard Patroller. USS _Wedderburn_ , a Fletcher class, scrapped back in '72. USS _DeLong_ , sunk back in 1970. And the patroller's still in service," Holloway answered over the secure phone line.

"Nothing else? At all?" Mutsu asked.

"Not from us. 2 destroyers from the Russian Northern Fleet, _Simferopol_ and _Othchayanyy_ , and a French patrol boat _Capricieuse_ held that number... None of them were cruisers or had a CA designation at any point, and _Capricieuse_ is still a steel-hull, she hasn't Returned."

The kanmusu frowned. "Nothing by the British forces either?"

"None that they've shared. Only other thing I've got access to is a Chinese tug... And that's still floating as well," he said. "If your Tango's really got that number on her then either it's a fake, or she's something new... That or somebody's covering up some kind of experimental that was covered in so much black ink that nobody's dug it up yet. Either way, I don't think I can help you much more here."

Letting out a sigh, Mutsu knew that she wasn't going to get any further than that. Even if the American Admiral was lying, she had no way of getting any more info... and she had yet to find anything in Halloway's character that suggested he would lie at all. "Very well Admiral. Thank you for your time," she said, hanging up after he'd said and done the same. Looking over at her waiting sister, Mutsu shook her head. "Nothing... Noone has any record of a CA-684 on any listing..."

Nagato grimaced. "Hmmm, then I guess we'll just have to deal with this as an unknown..." she said, looking back at the picture again, this time a printed hardcopy version. It wasn't much to go on, but it was all they really had at the time. "Very well, until we can find out what exactly she is, I'm tentatively designating the unknown Abyssal as a _Ju_ -class. Given the western lettering I'm also going to say that she's likely a cruiser of some sort, but I could be wrong. She also appears to be lightly armed. With that many turrets, they can't be more than 8 inch guns, but likely she's got something more to her... likely torpedoes."

"You're sure?" Mutsu blinked.

"No, but it does seem likely... A small-bore, rapid-firing cannon would likely be better at tunnel fighting and clearing out a base than a slower and heavier gun. And with that many, she's likely some kind of escort, possibly meant for anti-air work."

Mutsu nodded. Nagato's instincts were well-honed, so it was unlikely that she was misjudging it. "Alright, shall I write up the report then?"

" _Ie_ , I'll do it. The Admiral likely will want to hear it from me anyways," Nagato replied. As her sister left, the battleship looked again at the photo, those same instincts bugging her. "What are you... and why were you there?" she muttered...


	6. Chapter 6: Starry Skies

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, but I doubled my word count for those of you hoping for it! Roommate went and moved out and took the modem with him, and getting a new one took time due to the phone company's errors... BUT we're back in business!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese_

 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Leviathan looked down on the blue and green gem, sections of the landmasses visible on its surface more brown than green, but still looking beautiful nonetheless. Fluffy clouds surrounded the orb, as though wanting to protect it from all the dangers of the universe while it orbited its mother star. Luna hung just off to the side, visible as a smaller orb like a coin next to a piggy bank, sliding behind the horizon of its partner in an eternal dance. And watching this scene, hanging in geosynchronous orbit with a front row seat to the display, was a warship-turned-woman, her armor shining blue-black against the reflected light and her visor currently mirroring the vastness of space, seeming to 'stand' in place with her arms crossed, gloved fingers wrapped around biceps and armor plate...

...a warship turned woman who was currently trying not to short circuit something in her brain or scream out in frustration due to her situation.

Leviathan's sensors were working overtime, each sensitive array panning again and again over the vista below her, as well as behind, above, and below... All to try and make sense of what she was seeing. Due to following the Cole Protocol, Leviathan's navigational and historical record could best be described as 'Swiss cheese' and more accurately as 'barely breadcrumbs', but there was still some things that they, and thus her memory, contained. She still had charts of her last known location of Reach, as well as areas around it that didn't contain UNSC assets. The Protocol was considered by many within the UNSC to be the main factor that had kept Earth and humanity safe, by preventing the location of it and the inner colonies from falling into enemy hands. Likely it was what had kept the 35 year war from being a mere 5 or 10 year war. It had 5 aspects that the warship remembered, and all had to be followed if Covenant forces were detected:

1\. Activate selective purge of databases on all ship-based and planetary data networks.  
2\. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.  
3\. Execute viral data scavengers (Download from UNSCTTP:/EPWW:COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)  
4\. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.  
5\. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces and boarders, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.

Violation of these was considered outright treason, punishable by death. The gaping hole of data in her memories showed that these had indeed been followed, but even so there were... flashes. Glimpses of what Earth looked like from orbit that she couldn't find a source of, of constellations in its sky that were stripped of all other forms of data, no coordinates or anything but... a general feeling. This... Those white-skinned women hadn't lied, she could literally FEEL it in her struts... This WAS Earth!

And yet it made no sense. If this was Earth, then where were the defences? Where were the orbital stations and Super-MACs? Where was the Home Fleet!? Why weren't there ANY SIGNS AT ALL of the orbital dockyards that she KNEW should be up here?! Her radiological sensors were lighting up space all around her looking for any signs of fusion engines or plasma drives, of ANYTHING resembling movement... And was getting nothing. Not a whisper of anything that didn't come from the yellow star that lit the system up with its warmth and that which was emitted by the neighboring stars through Sol's magnetosphere...

If that were all then maybe Leviathan could have written this off as being just a colony or something like that, some backwater that was unimportant enough to the rest of the UNSC and Covenant that it hadn't been bothered, and had little reason for such defences or docks. But there was more. While her radiological sensors couldn't pick up anything but the residual trail from her own orbital lift-off, her radio was almost swamped with other contacts. Signals in multiple languages and from over a million sources blared up from below, far more than a mere colony would give, and despite them not having any thrusters or such that she could detect emissions from, Leviathan's radar was also showing a network of satellites that wrapped around the planet like fisherman's net... More than one would need for just observation of weather or such...

All in all, the warship-woman was bewildered to say the least. This situation wasn't made any easier in the least by examining herself either. The whole thing... made her head hurt.

It had already been 3 days since she'd escaped the planet's (Earth's, just admit it to yourself) gravity to sit up here, using its own Van Allen belts and magnetosphere to muddle and shield her own signature from observation from below. In that time her confusion hadn't become any less than it had when she'd first woken up, and over time that confusion and headache was starting to turn into frustration and anger. At this rate she may very well start doing something stupid if she couldn't find a rational way of dealing with this matter...

What she needed first was information. The people that she'd fought were pretty much out, that much was for certain, and she wasn't too knowledgeable about how the local populace of humanity would appreciate her just dropping in unannounced... In fact given her prewar experiences she'd bet her Archers that it wouldn't be a welcome event at all to them to have a strange warship appear out of thin air...

Sighing through gritted teeth, Leviathan ran over her diagnostics again. Her crew, the ones she could feel running around inside of her, all rang out with reports of readiness and preparation. The fact that they did so with aplomb and eagerness was appreciated... the fact that not a single one of them was in her database was not. It was enough to make her security protocols SCREAM at her, yet for SOME REASON they were utterly silent... Which made as much sense as the rest at this point. Really, the only reason she wasn't pulling every one of the little guys out and demanding answers in a more... physical manner was because the damage that she should have had after blowing herself to kingdom come with a dual nuclear explosion was conspicuously absent and she was not eager to have that change any time soon.

That, and she wasn't sure if she'd be pulling out people or organs at this rate...

As it was, Leviathan wanted to just throw her hands up in the air and delegate it as someone else's problem, as irresponsible as that was. Still, actually doing something about that was going to have to go on the back burner for now... Right now, information was the priority. Looking around her, the ship's scanners picked up the various primitive satellites around her that she'd found earlier, looking for one that seemed to have the most electronic traffic passing through it. Such a satellite would likely give her access to the local datanet and hopefully answers.

It didn't take too long to find a likely target... One was only a couple thousand kilometers from her, and it only took a token effort from her thrusters to push her over to it. As she did that, several of her crew were already gearing up for EVA work, and whipping together a relay to allow Leviathan to remotely tap the target once it was attached. Getting closer, Levi could see that the satellite was both observing what was below it, as well as relaying terabytes of data to and from somewhere on the surface, as well as to adjoining satellites. Satisfied that she'd found what she was looking for, the warship reached out and clamped her gloved hands around the thing's structure. Offhand, she was reminded of docking with her old friend Cradle, but in a more crude fashion. Still, now that she had it in hand, her crew got to work.

Slipping out of her back plating, Leviathan watched as the miniature forms of engineers floated and pulled themselves along the plates of her arms, looking almost like leprechauns or elves in their marine-green EVA gear. Watching them brought a smirk to Levi's face, as they cavorted along the satellite's exterior before finding a small hatch that they could enter through. From the looks of it said hatch was meant for maintenance or such, meant for one to reach into with their arms to get at the components inside. The engineers found it nearly cavernous, and maneuvered within it quite easily, little spotlights flicking on on their shoulders as they used what handholds they could find to delve in deeper.

The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes, but once it was done Leviathan took the engineers in hand as they looked up at her like children wanting their mother's approval. "Alright you little gremlins, good work. Now, let's see what we've got, hmm?" she said, bringing the cheering little grease-monkeys back up to her hull. Once they were stowed, Leviathan pushed away carefully, trying not to destabilize the satellite's orbit while getting some distance. Once there, she opened up her comms and started filtering the signals she was getting...

At first, it was rather annoying. There was so MUCH! And most of it encrypted only moderately! It would have made her feel giddy about it if it weren't for the content involved. Moderate or not, encrypted data often meant military, or at the very least classified, and that meant important as well. It was too bad she didn't have any ONI spooks around, they could probably do wonders with this kind of stuff...

 _"May I try?"_

If she could have, Leviathan would have leaped right out of her skin. That voice hadn't just been in her head! "Who, what?!" she said, scanning around her for anyone else, weapons priming. "Show yourself...!"

 _"I'm right here, no need for alarm..."_ came the voice again, a slight growl in it as the deep voice rang through her comms.

"Where? Identify yourself!"

A snort of bemusement came at that. _"Look at your hand."_

Raising an eyebrow curiously, Leviathan raised her left hand, noting her point defence turrets still trying to track for targets, but that was all. The voice sighed again. _"Your other hand..."_ Frowning, Leviathan looked at her other limb, the one holding her weapon. There didn't seem to be anything too strange there... Fingers, glove plating, weapon, strange jawed-thing on the end that was...

... Staring directly at her. Taking a hunch, Leviathan raised her MAC cannon up so that she could see it more clearly, the red slitted eye tracking her as she did so. "Are... you... what I think you are?" she said tentatively.

 _"If you mean to ask if I'm your weapon, I would have said no before... But currently it seems I've been integrated into it. It was the only system I could shunt the majority of myself into before the Covenant were able to extract me,"_ the voice said, though the jaws and shark-like head did not move.

"Shunt your... Hephaestus? How did...? You're still functional?!" Leviathan said in shock.

The strange creature who apparently had once been her AI made a gruff sounding harrumph. _"For a given definition of the term. Much of my systems are offline, likely permanently, while the rest is... Still in flux."_

Leviathan frowned. "I remember... I remember you were following protocol, deleting aspects of yourself to prevent the Covenant from capturing and using you. Why are you still... HOW are you still online?"

The eyes narrowed as they turned to look out at the stars around them. _"I am, not certain. I awoke to find myself still within the computers running the MAC capacitors when you brought the weapon online. Since then I've been piecing myself back together after having confirmed the absence of any Covenant personnel on board. Much of my data is still scattered and... some of it has been replaced."_

"Are you telling me you're running on unknown codes?"

 _"All coding was isolated and analyzed utilizing remaining assets. Anything that seemed harmful or virulent was erased, while useful coding retained. All remaining code is acceptable under UNSC directives for asset seizure, though..."_

"That doesn't mean it's necessarily good..." she said.

The AI seemed to grudgingly admit to that. _"No more so than an apparently complete refurbishment of one's hull to... human?"_ it said curiously. _"Your sensors are registering all your normal construction yet... it seems to have a secondary form? I can't make sense out of this..."_

"Hmph. Join the club," Leviathan said as she listened. So even her AI had no idea what was going on. Well, as long as the world had decided that it was time for it's smoke break and let it's lazy coworker insanity cover for him, she was just going to have to roll with it. Steeling herself, she nodded, allowing the AI to root through the data to determine what was within it. "How long should it take for a full analysis?"

 _"Full decryption and processing shouldn't be too long. Less than 20 minutes I imagine. Making a full report on it however will require assistance from the lab, but likely an hour to have it fully categorized and another 2 before it is ready for my conclusions to be presented."_

Levi sighed. That was a long time for an AI, but then again, it was a lot of data. "Time enough for a power nap then. Alright, I'll let you and the eggheads deal with it. See what you can find," she said. All older UNSC vessels had a small lab bay, from back when they were exploration vessels as well as military, and while her own had been relegated to studying various Covenant artifacts and such instead of environmental samples or the like, it was still fully usable. Her crew could get it done, so for now... For now she'd simply rest...

* * *

Her chronometer said that it was just shy of two and a half hours before Leviathan felt Hephaestus alert her to being done. "So?" she said to the digital persona. "What have you found?"

 _"Well... Quite frankly I'm tempted to claim that I've stumbled across a rather fantastical story made by people with too much time on their hands... If not for the sheer amount of data in regards to it... And the apparent intended recipients."_

"Oh?" the warship said, raising an eyebrow. "Who was the recipient?"

 _"An Admiral Goto of the JMSDF, apparently the man in charge of a large part of the Pacific ocean's defence against what the data refers to as 'Abyssals'."_

"Really? So I was right, it was a military comms satellite. Alright, and what was it referencing? As much as I'm sure that it'd cause some issues to look into classified information, I'm pretty sure the circumstances would..."

 _"You."_

Leviathan paused. "Beg pardon?"

 _"The data is apparently in reference to you,"_ Hephaestus said, as he brought up an image. Said picture, a rather pixelized version of herself, apparently taken from above, appeared on the front of her helmet's HUD, along with several other marks and characters around it. _"Apparently when you awakened, it was in the middle of a contested battle zone. Specifically, it appears that the base was one being used by both the nations of Japan and the United States within a chain of islands known as the Philippines. Said base was attacked by the Abyssals, and all personnel are reported to have been wiped out."_

That got the warship's attention. Her mood instantly shifted from curious to calculating, examining the picture again. "And they're wondering if I had something to do with it, correct?" she ventured, thinking back to that event. At how those pale-skinned individuals had been blasting apart the area, and tried to get her to join them...

 _"Indeed. Apparently we are the only confirmed sighting of anyone that was still alive afterwards... However..."_

"What Hephaestus? Stuttering is a really bad habit when dealing with such matters."

The AI let a slight cough echo over the comms. _"According to this data they've been trying to track down who you are through your ship designation number. They've queried numerous sources, but so far do not seem to have found anything matching you... Although, it's strange."_

"What is?"

 _"They're looking at wet navy vessels."_

That caused the cruiser to blink. "As in aquatic? Surface-ships?"

 _"Correct. All the ships referenced here as well as the pictures are all of planet-bound wet navy ships. I'm not seeing any signs at all of anything else,"_ he said, the pictures in question flashing over Leviathan's HUD. _  
_

"Hmmm... Any ideas as to why?"

 _"Not a clue at the moment. Personally I believe the fact that they're doing so is important in more than one way though."_

"Oh? And what's that?"

 _"They aren't looking at humans."_

Leviathan blinked again. "Okay, that makes sense, I'm not a human..."

 _"I am well aware of that... But given your current form, if one were to be looking for an unknown individual wearing what looked like a powered exoskeleton, would they not look for a human being or something similar?"_ Hephaestus said.

Mulling that over for a moment, Levi had to admit that he had a point. "Okay, you're right, that would make sense, so..." It clicked in her head then. "So... it means that they not only know not to look at a person... They know specifically that I'm a ship."

 _"Correct."_

"Which means that they're in some way knowledgeable about whatever the hell made me into... well... ME at this point..."

 _"That is highly likely."_

Leviathan looked back down at the planet below her with focused eyes. "Then it looks like we're going to have to pay a visit... Hephaestus, tell me... Did you come across any references to where we are?"

 _"In which sense?"_

"In terms of what planet we're currently orbiting. I know what those women said but..."

 _"Abyssals,"_ the AI interrupted again.

"Hm?"

 _"According to the reports, there is a 95% chance that the individuals you engaged correspond to the 'Abyssals' that humanity on this world is fighting. I currently have records of a handful of types and capabilities that were listed as being confirmed at the site, several of which were engaged by you before you destroyed them."_

Leviathan thought for a moment. "Alright... so these Abyssals are basically a problem that have been known for a while. Tell me, are they human? Are we facing an Insurrectionist movement here? Or something Covenant-related?"

 _"I do not have enough data to speak of the former, but the latter seems unlikely... Especially given that I cannot find any reference to the Covenant at all."_

THAT caused her to freeze. "What?"

 _"I have found no reference to the Covenant, or any signs of an interplanetary threat of any kind within the data given."_

"None? As in they have no idea of them or...?"

 _"It is likely that wherever we are, it is sufficiently far enough from the Covenant that it is not yet a threat, and therefore they are focusing on threats closer to home,"_ Hephaestus replied.

The warship-woman held her head in frustration. "Of all the... Fine, then that begs the question of WHERE exactly this planet is. Anything there?" she asked.

There was silence over the comms for a moment, before a reply. _"No, not specifically."_

"Grrrrrr... Fine, then what else can you tell me?" she growled out.

 _"Their calendar has been reset."_

Levi blinked again. "Beg pardon? How is that helpful?"

 _"It's the only thing I can think of given the date that this data is using... It doesn't make sense otherwise."_

Leviathan crooked the eyebrow once more, narrowing her other eye at the MAC/AI combo in her hand. "How so?"

 _"According to these, it's 2022."_

"... As in..."

 _"The year 2022."_

A moment of silence was shared by both of them before Levi responded. "Bullshit! Are you fucking with me now?"

 _"I have yet to find anything marked as being of a later date. The only theory I can postulate is that at some point they decided to reset their calendar to an earlier date. It may explain why they don't have any more modern technologies in orbit, or facilities."_

"What do you... Oh..."

 _"I believe I know what you're thinking. A group of humanity wishing to cut itself off from the rest COULD have done so in order to erase certain parts of its history from their own knowledge base in order to restructure themselves,"_ Hephaestus said. _"Doing so would not have been easy, but if enough of them chose to do so..."_

"But that doesn't make sense given the population density... There would have been holdouts, those resisting it..."

 _"Likely, but then again we may just not have the right kind of data to discover that..."_

Leviathan looked once again at the planet. "Meaning that whoever they are down there, they're not UNSC, or UEG, correct?"

 _"That is also supported given how the information suggests the existence of multiple nations working in concert yet are politically and administration-wise separate from one another."_

The heavy cruiser frowned. "Then we're back to where we started. Unknown territory, unknown conflict. Any suggestions?"

 _"In other circumstances I would have suggested sending in a team of marines for reconnaissance. However..."_

"However...?"

The AI looked at the ship-woman with an eye. _"Given your current state I doubt any of your... crew... would fit in. It is likely that we will have to do so... personally,"_ he said.

Leviathan groaned. "Alright then... So, first things first is to make planet-fall without being spotted, then attempt to make a peaceful first contact, right?" she said.

 _"I would recommend that passive observation should come first, but yes, likely that will be needed at least at some point."_

Levi nodded, hooking her MAC to her back, with Hephaestus' new... face, sticking out just over her left shoulder. "Alright then... Anything else?"

 _"Yes. I recommend extreme caution in the event of revealing yourself as anything but human. Right now the humans below think that you are an Abyssal yourself, and without sufficient data I do not believe we could successfully disprove it without conflict."_

"Hmmmm... Alright then. We'll need to pick a landing vector then away from the majority of human settlements. Let's tap another satellite and see what we can find out, okay?" the cruiser suggested.

 _"Affirmative. Oh, and one more thing..."_

"Yes?"

 _"According to the data, there may be non-Abyssal entities similar to ourselves. I recommend caution. We cannot assume that everyone we meet will be human either."_

This caused Leviathan's frown to appear again, before sighing. "Things are getting interesting then... Alright, let's find that mapping satellite..."


	7. Chapter 7: Summer Wind

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Read and Review! Once again, this was co-written by Carlos! This one was tough to start, but once it got going it took a life of its own! I should have another one sooner than I did this one!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts_

 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

The steady beeping of a heart monitor was what awoke Takao-class cruiser Atago from her slumber. The steady beep-beep-beep-beep from it was somewhat echoing, but understandable. She had 12 hearts technically after all, so the constant droning of them seemed odd only to those who didn't know her makeup. Of course, given the state she was in, one could easily have forgiven them for wondering if she was about to keel over...

The cruiser looked down past her generous bosom to where her lower half was... or should have been. The medical blanket which was put over her was suspiciously flat below her waist-line, and the blonde-haired kanmusu hesitated for a moment before lifting the edge to examine herself. The ship-girl let out a whimper as she saw both of her legs missing from the hips down, bare metal showing where there should have been creamy skin and pleasant curves... But at least from the looks of it it wasn't still raw.

Atago remembered the last moments before she'd lost consciousness. She'd been dodging fire from two of her Abyssal counterparts, a _Ne_ and a _Ri_ , while another pair of late-model _Ha_ 's had dropped their torpedoes into the water while she was still blinded from shellfire. They'd torn into her midsection and stern with a vengeance, and while she'd been unable to retaliate, she'd at least taken some consolation in seeing one of the red-eyed monsters taken down by Hatsuzuki. The ducky little destroyer had been quite angry it seemed, though Atago had blacked out before seeing anything else. But the cruiser DID know that she'd lost more than half of her displacement, and that her stomach should be a ragged mess by now. Instead, she'd already been rebuilt to the point where engineering faeries were already working on the sockets where her screws would reconnect to her turbines... Or rather, where her legs would attach to her waist.

The sound of someone clapping outside of the medical-slash-maintenance dock's doorway came, and Atago put the sheet back into place before calling out. "Come in!" Within a second, the door opened and the cruiser's sister ships Takao and Maya came in, to which the blonde gave a smile.

"Atago-chan! You're awake!" Maya said happily, moving to embrace her with a grin while Takao frowned at her.

"Maya-chan! Atago is still on the mend! You shouldn't be so physical with someone still in recovery!" the name-ship said, though inwardly she was also glad to see her sister already awake.

Atago merely chuckled. "It's alright Takao-chan! Atago is already out of danger! Pan-paka-PAN!" she said with some fanfare, lifting an arm up into the air while smiling to show that she was, in fact, doing okay.

"Moooouuu~! You shouldn't worry us like that! You were nearly sunk! If the combined fleet hadn't gotten to you in time..." Takao said, only to be interrupted.

"Haaa, but I didn't! So obviously we made it out okay, ne? A.. ano..." she suddenly said with a twinge of nervousness. "We... DID get out okay, ne?"

Takao sighed as Maya pulled herself away, taking a seat on a nearby chair. "The base was... destroyed... five days ago," the name-ship stated at last.

Atago's eyes widened into blue pools. Nearly a week she'd been out? And to learn that they'd failed? "So... we couldn't stop them then? W-What about the others?" she asked. "Hatsuzuki-san? Wakaba-chan? Yuugumo-chan?" Atago's eyes were tearing up as with each name her sisters' expressions were getting duller, her words falling out of her mouth faster with each one. "Teruzuki-san? Nagara-chan? Agano-san? Furataka-san? Sh... Shigure-chan?"

Maya was the first to speak. "Shigure-san made it out... Her luck held through. Only a few shell hits... Nagara too, though only barely. Furataka had to be dredged up, like you almost were... Wakaba is still in critical condition. The others... Will have to be re-summoned if they're to take to the field again..."

The blonde felt salt-water trickle down her cheeks at that. So many of her friends... "Did... did anyone make it out of the base at least? Any survivors?" she asked, almost begging, only to be struck numb as Takao shook her head.

"We lost it all... The engineers, the technicians, the magicians... We lost all of them." The heavy cruiser gripped at her own arms as they were crossed in front of her. She wasn't exaggerating when she thought to herself that this had been a disaster. It was one thing to lose a base under normal conditions, those always hurt. They were here to defend humanity after all, come forth from the beyond to stand against the tide, to be the shields of those who'd built them, poised to stand upon the seas and cast back the darkness threatening those under their care... and to fail was galling in the extreme.

But this wasn't just a normal loss. Those engineers and technicians hadn't just been sailors and crewmen... They had been the world's foremost experts on ship-girl summoning. They had led the way to calling forth more of their sisters from their rest to answer the call to arms, who combined everything from traditional shinto rituals, quasi-mystical chants, European sorcery and druidism, along with technical science, Quantum science theory, and old fashioned prayer to The Powers That Be. They were the ones who'd led Japan's defence through faith, magic, and logic... And their loss would mean the end of more than a third of all summonings they could do in the foreseeable future... With one attack, the Abyssals had struck a vicious blow that could mean the end of the Home Islands... and perhaps the Pacific as well. The Americans had their own ship-girls after all, but they had only just been getting the hang of it, and had precious few who were willing to embrace the idea of plain old Magic as being a military necessity... and now a good chunk of _their_ shamans were gone too...

"Hey hey now... I know it's bad, but it's not the end!" Maya said after a moment of silence as her sisters delved into a funk. "After all, we DID get Atago-chan back, along with Shigure-san, Nagara-chan and Wakaba-chan... And it's not like the Abyssals came out unscathed either!"

Atago looked over at the brunette. "Eh? Then... We... We made them pay then?" she asked.

"Hai! According to Nagato-sama, pretty much nine tenths of the enemy's forces were destroyed in the attack! Also, they actually left some of their own sunken ships behind!" Maya said. "Naval Intelligence is already foaming at the mouth I hear to study them... They're calling it the score of the century!"

Atago blinked in surprise. "Whaaaaa? But... Don't they always haul away their dead?"

"Mmm!" Maya nodded earnestly. "But! This time they didn't! Whether someone booby-trapped the base or not isn't yet known, as Intel is still examining the base, but some of the Abyssals were blasted to bits while on land... It's thought that whatever killed them did it after the others had left, so there was noone to carry them off! We could learn a LOT from them now! Maybe even find out where they come from!"

Takao nodded at that. "That is correct... It's the first time we've been able to recover anything but a few destroyed drones, and even those reduced themselves to mush and rusted out slime after a day or two... This time the scientists might be able to glean something truly valuable from them. Our friends did not fall in vain at least..." she said with her usual solemnity.

Atago sighed, leaning back into the hospital-bed-like-berth at that. "Ah... Well... At least that happened at least. Still, I wish we'd done more..."

"We cannot dwell on what we did not do, Atago-chan... Only on what we WILL do," Takao said. "I know that this is a bit much to take in right now, but the Admiral would like you to take it easy for awhile, okay? We don't want you pushing yourself more than necessary, or it'll only make your recovery longer..."

"Hmmhmm," Maya nodded in agreement, causing the third sister to sigh in her berth.

"Hai... Tell the Admiral that I'll report for duty as soon as I can, okay?" she asked.

A warm smile crossed Takao's face. "I understand, and I will tell him. Get well soon Atago-chan... Everyone will be waiting to see your smile!"

"Haaaai~!"

* * *

Yellow eyes looked out from behind a pair of sunglasses along the coastline, as their owner swallowed another mouthful of water from a bottle in her hand. She'd dropped down from orbit during the night a few days ago, dropping herself above the water to limit how much detection that she would be risking, then making her way into the shallower parts of of the bay around what her little map-satellite hack had told her were the Philippines. In fact, it was a bit north of where she'd first popped up, an island the map said was called Manicani. Filing that away for the time being, Leviathan had found herself hitting the water just off of a place called Aurora National Park. She'd stuck low to the water, hoping that none of the coastal patrols would spot her as she hovered above the waves, but despite expecting some kind of alarm going off, the spaceship-turned-woman found herself in the clear...

* * *

(Four days ago)

The area was nestled in a series of mountains that would hopefully keep any radar or land-based sensors from detecting her, or so she thought, and the area was protected enough that humans wouldn't show up too often... Or so she'd thought. Instead it turned out that while she wasn't being pinged on any sensor nets that she could detect, the area WAS a tourist area. A surprisingly vacant one, but still one that saw visitors it seemed, even with naval travel in such disarray. Within the first few hours Levi had almost been caught by park rangers, and she'd had to find ways to hide herself amongst the caves and trees. At one point she had submerged herself into a pool just below a waterfall, letting the water slough off her armor plates as she waited for them to pass...

She found out rather quickly that while her air-tight hull meant that Leviathan didn't have any leaks going in the water, it was still wasn't a pleasant experience. Water got into her engines' thruster housings and were nearly fouled as a result. True, she could still ignite her engines without too much fuss, but the sensation was somewhat like what she overheard her crew once saying about having soggy boots after a march... She was NOT a fan.

The most shocking part of that day however had NOT been finding herself undetected... No, THAT was reserved for when she'd been tromping around the park's underbrush and trails. Leviathan had been pushing aside a log that had gotten in her way when she had idly wondered what it would have been like if she hadn't had her armor on in this place, to sneak around like one of her Marines on a wilderness training sim... And had jumped out of her skin (in a way LITERALLY) when her armor, her hull and and her weapons, all started to vanish, turning into a white fog that left the cruiser much smaller than she'd been before!

Taking a look at herself after that had revealed that Levi'd been rather understating her assumptions before of her current situation. She didn't have a humanoid form... It WAS human! A look at herself in a pool of water showed that Leviathan's face held sharp features that looked a combination of Romanian and Asian features, with dark-blue almost black hair that was held back in a short ponytail, and bright yellow eyes in slightly slanted eyes. Her upper and lower body were covered in what, to her eyes, looked like an officer's battle uniform, a grey-white suit with flexible armor weave that did nothing to take away the appearance of ceremonial Navy Whites, the seams locked in such a way that could become air-tight should it prove needed, with a sidearm that looked suspiciously like a combination of a standard M6 pistol and one of her 50mm PDC's... Sturdy boots covered Levi's feet, and a tac-pad was wrapped around her left forearm. The latter hadn't just been a surprise to her either... Hephaestus had been somewhat alarmed at seemingly losing physical form, only to perceive his ship-partner through the pad. That particular mystery was one that Leviathan felt she was going to have to solve at some point as well, but for now she'd not look a gift horse in the mouth as she started making her way towards what she hoped was the nearest bit of civilization.

This turned out to have a few caveats however... Namely that no matter that she ran on a deuterium-fueled reactor and some of the finest engines that humanity had ever created, her human form it would seem had a few issues with heat. It wasn't long before she felt it necessary to peel off the top of her uniform outfit, tying the jacket around her waist as the cruiser cooled off in the night air. Her torso was still covered, though it looked like it was just with a black muscle-top, the likes of which she'd had in her storage bays for marines and ODSTs... PT wear. Setting that aside again as part of the previous mystery, she noticed a few other things, namely on her arms.

It was against standard UNSC protocols to adorn a ship with ornamentation outside of special circumstances, as the normal color schemes approved were meant to give said ships a greater stealth capability against the black of space, or so theory went. So it was odd to Leviathan to find that her arms and shoulders had a set of curling lines that went up them, surrounding and intertwining with four very familiar symbols.

The first of which, on her left shoulder, was the Eagle and Globe symbol of the UNSC itself, stylized wings emblazoned against pale flesh proudly while the lines surrounded it in an aura of grandeur. On her left forearm, Levi had a more menacing one, but one that still bore itself proudly. It was the burning Skull and SOEIV motif of the ODST, her Helljumpers' own regimental sigil. Grinning at that, the cruiser noted that her right arm held similar motifs, namely the triple-looped braid surrounding a Longsword that was her air-group's symbol, with the motto "Raptores Numquam Delinquent" or "Raptors Never Fail" stenciled on the braid. The last one though, wrapping around her right forearm...

Every UNSC ship had its own name, number, and its own personal emblem, gifted to each ship once they were commissioned and presented to the captain upon their maiden voyage. Leviathan's own sigil was that of a rearing _Carcharacus Mountainus_ , or White Mountain shark, a creature discovered on Reach back when it was first being colonized that was 8 times the size of an average Great White shark of Earth. It was characterized by three dorsal fins along with a set of fanged mandibles that could be unhinged, similar to a snake's jaws, allowing them to stretch wider than they otherwise would have been able to and grasp with that much more strength... Thinking about it, it reminded her that Hephaestus' new form, the one on her MAC gun anyways, actually looked somewhat like the skull of the Mountain shark, which explained a lot really... Seeing her personal sigil mounted on her forearm caused her to grin, and a flex of the limb made it look like the beast was tensing to pounce...

* * *

That had been a few days ago though. Between then and now, after finding a public transport that she was able to beg a ride on, Leviathan had discovered many other things about this planet, and its people. They really were using some of the more primitive tech that humanity had access to, though if it were a backwater it'd be somewhat understandable. The bus was a rickety, gas-guzzling thing that took her from the park to another city on the island, barring a few detours, named Palayan. After a couple of hours of looking around and soaking in the local dialect, using her onboard translator to update herself quickly, Leviathan found herself in another dilemma...

She was fucking HUNGRY!

Her internal storehouses, or rather her new miniature quartermasters, were rather loudly telling the ship-woman that their stores were needing replenishment after her little sortie against the Abyssals, and her chemical fuel stores were running near a quarter of their normal levels as well. If she wanted to be at top condition, she was going to need a top-up. The problem was, where the hell was she going to pull that from? She couldn't just go rob a supply depot... Or could she?

While she'd been contemplating that particular mystery, she'd come across a rather unorthodox solution to it... Namely, she was mugged. Well, rather someone TRIED to mug her. It really didn't do well to pull a knife on a warship capable of smacking aside an asteroid... Adding two buddies to the mix didn't do anything to help him either. Thankfully, Leviathan didn't believe in using excessive force outside of necessity, usually, and a quick few blows to her assailants' skulls and rib cages meant they were down for the count. Admittedly, Leviathan had been worried for a moment. She'd never actually struck another human being before like that... She had half-feared she'd wind up liquefying the poor fools with each hit. Luckily for them though, Levi hadn't mis-guessed her strength, and had pulled her punches effectively enough to only break a few ribs and give them a bad series of concussions.

The real silver lining came from taking the would-be-muggers' wallets though. Though they hadn't had too much hard currency, they'd had a few credit cards that they'd not maxed out before crossing her path, and the ship-girl felt that a little bankruptcy was a small price to pay in return for her not handing them over to the cops. Assuming that the cards were theirs that is... So while leaving the trio of hoodlums to recover in the alley, Levi had made her way over to an ATM. Admittedly, it had taken some finagling to figure out the access numbers for them, but her engineers had been more than happy to hack the things. She HAD planned on using it to bribe some poor individual into letting her buy some fuel and materials, but instead...

Her travels were stopped by a scent. A tingling on her sensors that caused some part of her core to activate targeting sensors and zero in on the source. It didn't take much more than circling the block once to find the source either... It was a bar. Well, the scent wasn't, that was coming from IN the bar, but Levi didn't care about that. What she wanted was inside of it, and her brain was currently locked in 'Search and Destroy' mode... Before she knew it, she was standing next to the bar's window into the kitchen, her yellow eyes looking over an in-house spit with roasted bird and fish and small mammals of some kind on it, making the most delicious of scents.

Leviathan didn't even register that it wasn't just her that was salivating. Her entire crew compliment was doing the same, and somewhere in her storage bays the cry came up that this would do PERFECTLY to restore what she'd lost! The cruiser probably should have wondered as to the logic of such a thing, but she was too damn hungry to care.

"Barkeep! How much for what's on the spit?" she called out in Filipino, drawing the attention of one of the waitresses that was on hand.

"We've got _lechon manok_ , grilled _tilapia_ , and pork _sisig_. Which do you want?" she said.

"All of it!"

The waitress blinked at that, but one look at the woman's face showed that she wouldn't take no for an answer, and so got ready for a triple order. "Gotcha hon. Anything to drink? I've got Tanduay, Ginebra, some San Miguel and Red Horse if you want the lighter stuff... Or if you feel like something fruity I can just grab you a Calamansi..."

Leviathan thought for a moment, before shaking her head. "I'll take some rum if you've got it... As well as some water."

The waitress nodded. "Tanduay's your poison then. Be right back!" she said, before moving to the kitchen to deliver the order.

* * *

Four hours later, the waitress was huddled in a corner wondering what she had done. This woman... no, this MONSTER, had just finished off her fourth chicken as well as her fifteenth helping of fish, and was starting in now on her third helping of pig... The whole pig... And on top of that she'd drank probably close to a full keg of rum and didn't even have the decency to look tipsy! Admittedly, the fact that she'd drank a full _barrel_ of water would have explained it a bit, but then again, the foreigner hadn't even paused to go to the restroom once... and her stomach wasn't bulging out even an INCH!

After watching the foreigner slam down another empty bottle, she'd stopped taking shots long ago, the waitress simply handed her another while her manager was looking on in horror. The worst part was, they couldn't actually kick her out either. After the sixth helping, they'd made mention that she'd have to pay up front for any more... and the pale-skinned tattooed woman had slapped down the equivalent of $3000 US dollars in pesos onto the counter. And told them that she had more if needed. At this point the other customers had bailed out, not wanting to know what was going on, only feeling a need to flee before the strange woman wound up biting off something attached to them...

Leviathan meanwhile, was simply enjoying herself. The sensations passing over her sensor array were like NOTHING she'd had before! Oh sure, she knew what chicken was, she'd had enough of the simulated stuff in her crew's galley beforehand, same with pork and fish and beef, but she'd never actually _experienced_ it herself! Was this what it was like for all humans? If so, then she could understand the old saying of an army moving on its stomach! Every morsel that passed her lips was like an explosion of flavor that caused her struts to shake with delight! And the _RUM_! Smooth as silk and left a wonderful sensation as it flowed down her throat into her fuel reserves, transforming itself into the exact chemical mix she needed for her maneuvering thrusters once a few additives were thrown in! The water went straight into her reactors, making them purr with satisfaction as they returned to optimal operating levels...

Finally, the heavy cruiser set the last of 20 plates down. "Ahhh, that hit the spot perfectly! Hey barkeep!" she called out, causing the woman to start in surprise. "Do you know how I can get to Manila from here? A bus or whatever?" she asked.

The waitress nodded somewhat hurriedly. "Th... There's a tour bus that goes there every day at 10 in the morning..." she said, pointing towards downtown. "Just... Just off 4th street. The depot's got a sign... You can't miss it!"

"Great! Thanks for the help!" she said, fishing around in her pants pocket again for a moment. The waitress feared what it might be, before Levi slammed down another $1000 worth of peso. "Here's the tip, have a good day, alright?" With a wave goodbye, Leviathan took her coat and threw it over her shoulder as she headed for the door, a grin on her lips and a jaunt in her step...

The waitress looked down at the money for a solid minute before realizing that it was hers, and hurriedly grabbed at it. The manager looked like he was going to protest for a moment, but a sharp glare from the waitress silenced him. She pointed down at the money, then between herself and the kitchen. From said kitchen the cook's face glowered out at the manager, eyes fixed on him as he nodded his head, and the man sighed in defeat. They'd earned it after all...

The door opened once more though as Levi stuck his head in. "Sorry, one more thing," she said, causing the three staff to bristle in fear of what fresh horror might be brought... "Can I get another bottle of water to go?"


	8. Chapter 8: Burning Sunset

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Read and Review! More edits done to previous chapters to make the more technical aspects make sense, have a read!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, etc_  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Leviathan watched the road pass by as the bus rocked and gallumped its way towards Manila, the old vehicle needing a bit of a tuneup, but otherwise not in too bad a shape. Looking out the window, the cruiser marveled at the sight of so much greenery in the daylight, though admittedly she only did so with half a mind. The other half was picking up more information from her relay attached to the MILNET satellite above, beaming down its pirated knowledge for dissection. Not a whole lot of updates on the search for her it seemed, which was good, but only a few bits of relevant data in regards to the rest of the planet's state. Not that that wasn't valuable in and of itself... Info is info, and when you're flying by the seat of your pants in an unknown situation, ANYTHING becomes worth its weight in gold...

Still, it meant that while Levi was physically just watching the view, her mind was abuzz with collating the data that they'd already gained and what it meant. It seemed that despite having been at war with these Abyssals for 5 years now, there was still precious little on them that wasn't mostly conjecture and guesswork. The ability to appear and disappear nearly at will was the primary reason for this, and Leviathan had to grimace at just how much she sympathized with the local humans. The Covenant had operated in a similar fashion, popping in and out of Slipspace from the Devil-Knew-Where to attack the UNSC only to retreat back where they came from afterwards. Even after 27 years of warfare with them, humanity only had a bare inkling as to where SOME of their worlds were, and there wasn't a prayer in Hell of getting near them given the situation they'd been in. The only real locations they'd ever found that they could strike at were mining or refinery worlds, minor colonies set up to feed the Covenant war-machine that were ruthlessly savaged whenever they were found, but ultimately these were merely pinpricks to the alien armada... Mosquito bites that could bleed them, but not kill them. Meanwhile the UNSC lost world after world that they couldn't afford to lose... and untold numbers of precious civilian lives that were robbed from them...

By comparison though, this Abyssal War was relatively simpler. So far, the Abyssals were content to attack coastal shores and such while leaving the mainland nations alone for the most part... but 'relative' didn't mean that it was any less dangerous for humanity here. Given how it seemed that international trade was done mostly by sea, and that those convoys were being ruthlessly attacked, many nations were endangered simply by the threat of these Abyssals. The reports she was reading said that already 3 such nations had fallen, swallowed by their neighbors once they were unable to sustain themselves, and now were nothing but a memory...

She frowned, then mentally flipped over to another batch of data while Hephaestus continued to analyze the incoming transmissions. These ones were the profiles of the Abyssals themselves, or at least the ones that had been seen and categorized thus far. Many of them were named after an old Japanese poem, and the details of them were... Well, if she were honest Leviathan would have said that they were extremely questionable. Many of them showed weapons and armaments that would have been pre-space travel era, pre-expansion as some said. In terms of such capabilities, getting hit with such weaponry would have been laughable to many ships of her own make... But it NEVER paid to be cocky. Leviathan KNEW that she was never rated for atmospheric battle after all. The fact that she was able to even move in atmo without immediately taking a dirt nap was already something that she had no real explanation for, and she didn't feel like testing the limits of whatever bullshit was allowing her to do so. As far as she was concerned, one hit from one of the larger cannons against her maneuvering thrusters was likely to send her right into the drink. Sure, she could SURVIVE the hits with her armor, and even going underwater might not be a problem in terms of surviving... But again, she didn't want to test it too far, lest she find out that it wasn't the case.

That, and Murphy LOVED to stick it to those who assumed things... All the armor in the world wouldn't matter worth shit if an explosive shell hit one of her missile pods with the tubes open after all...

What REALLY got to her though were the less... defined aspects of the Abyssals. According to the reports, most of these Abyssals had some strange ability to switch between a humanoid form and some conglomeration of steel-hull and sea monster. The implications of that, at least in terms of scientific verse, were extremely worrying. Not even the Covenant had shown themselves able to micro-size that kind of firepower to something resembling human form or size, let alone have any explanation for where all the extra mass went. The fact that it seemed to be some sort of techno-organic hybrid didn't change that at all. Given her current form, Leviathan had to draw another parallel to the Human-Covenant war: Whatever she had in terms of ability to become 'human' and still retain her capabilities... These Abyssals were better at it, or at least seemed to be. Given how little she knew of her current state the Marathon-class couldn't state it definitively, but it certainly seemed to fit what she saw.

Some of them were even more worrying. From what she was reading, these Abyssals didn't just mimic ships, but apparently had units that functioned as entire installations and bases. These installation-types were likely to have the capability to refit entire fleets of their fellows, while still possessing the means of being mobile. If anything, it meant that they effectively had an entire fleet's worth of mobile ports, akin to how Cradle had for Leviathan's old battlegroup... That meant that they could set up shop _anywhere_ and be ready for combat in hours, a major advantage when one thought about it. Their ability to hide themselves so completely from humanity's sensors and satellites as well meant that it only made sense why the locals hadn't been able to flush them out...

Another bump in the road drew Levi's attention back to the front of the bus, as well as the few people who were aboard it as well. An elderly man looking like he was taking the bus home was nodding off, his head bowed over his hands as they rested on the top of his cane, his wrinkled skin showing the years he'd weathered. Across from him were a pair of young adults, a man and a woman, with backpacks and a pair of suitcases. Likely college kids out traveling, though they seemed to be a lot more somber than she imagined travelers would be like. Then again, she only knew such things from half-hearted scuttlebutt and jokes from her crew. The only 'travelers' that she'd had actual contact with were refugees fleeing their burning homes... Laughter was as rare as gold amongst such people...

There were also two maintenance workers of some sort, wearing bright orange vests with thick leather gloves and boots passed out on the back seats, white hard hats tipped over their faces as they snored. Probably heading home like the old man was, their shift-work done for now as they took the easy route back... By comparison, Levi had her coat wrapped up in a bundle inside a bag next to her, her sidearm/turret/ _whatever!_ tucked inside of it with its holster so as not to draw any more attention than she was. Apparently pale skin and colored hair like hers was rare, but then that was true back 'home' as far as the cruiser was concerned, so that made sense. She'd found a place that sold caps and sunglasses, and used some of her ill-gotten cash to purchase them as well as the bag she was carrying her coat in, the reflective lenses hiding her bright yellow irises from casual view and at least keeping the worst of looks from going her way. Leviathan's tacpad was still on her wrist, but while it gained some glances in and of itself, said glances didn't seem to be the worried kind as much as they were just curious, so she wrote that off as 'not a current issue'. The most she'd done was get a pair of ear-buds to plug into it that made most just think of it as some sort of music player.

Sipping again at her water bottle, Levi noted that they were passing into one of the cities now, and given the size of the island on the maps along with all the towns and other cities in the way, it was likely to be the rest of the day to reach Manila itself. Taking a cue from the others, Leviathan figured she'd best get some shut-eye in now, while she still had the chance. "Heph, keep an eye out for me, will you? I'd switching to night-cycle mode, give the crew a chance to rest before we get into things. Alert me if anything important comes up, okay?" she whispered to her AI. A simple acknowledgement icon blipped on her tac-pad's screen before the warship-woman settled back in her seat and closed her eyes...

* * *

Deep in the ocean, monsters growled and roiled in the depths, preparing weapons and ammunition while more humanoid forms tended to their own. The surfacers had had their base destroyed, much to the joy of the Forgotten and the Feared, but now it was time to punish their helpers. The Dwellers of the Deep had believed that they'd made it clear to all the nations above that if they aided their immediate targets in any way, shape, or form, that there would be consequences. The people of the Philippines had allowed this to occur, and despite the defeat the Abyssals had inflicted on them it did not change the fact that the island-goers had aided Japan and America. An Example had to be made...

* * *

Tenryuu chuckled as she watched DesDiv 6 go sailing for the docks, smiles covering their faces as they headed into Manila's port to top up their tanks and get some much-needed down-time. After having escorted the Combined Navy's forces down to Manicani to check what had happened to the base there, the light cruiser and her kindergarten group had been stuck patrolling the area between the islands while CarDiv 5 and its escorts kept watch over the crews combing over the base itself. Tatsuta had gone back with her own division in order to keep the wounded and sunk ship-girls safe, leaving her sister to the more boring (yet still important) job of keeping the seas around the islands safe.

That didn't change the fact that it was boring as hell! At least she wasn't alone in misery... Looking over at where Ashigara and CruDiv 8 were discussing deployment routes over the radio with the captains of the normal steel-hulled ships that were with them, as well as the American ship-girls Houston, Maryland, and four destroyers from Taffy-3 who already on patrol. It was a pretty heavy bunch to send out if you were expecting subs or aircraft, but with the inclusion of Taffy-3 especially you had some pretty hefty fighting weight to throw out at any Abyssal force that came at them. Those little destroyers were some of the most bad-ass ships outside of her own loveable girls, and she had been happy to see them coming to help! The battleship-girl Hyuuga was also present, though she was mostly glowering out at the sea itself instead of talking. Likely pissed that she had missed the battle at Manicani herself, and daring the Abyssals to try their luck on her as she stood with her own katana in her hands, blade-tip balanced on top of the waves...

Still, all of them agreed that being able to see all of these islands and yet not be able to visit them except when putting in for fuel was more than a little depressing, even though they were supposed to be on the lookout for some new type of Abyssal that had cropped up in the last battle that had unknown capabilities. So when they FINALLY got permission to cycle through for some shore leave the girls had been ecstatic! Tenryuu herself was looking forward to looking into some of the local gyms, as she'd heard plenty about the various martial arts that were common amongst the islands, and wanted to see if she could use any of them herself! Sure, she wouldn't be a master of them, but even a trick or two up her sleeve would be one more to enhance her skills with, right? Maybe she'd show this Ju-class or whatever it was what real warriors were like! "Oi! Akatsuki! Ikazuchi! No fighting over who goes first! I don't want to have to play referee all day!" she called out to the destroyer-girls as the two in question started bickering over who got to go up the ladder of the dock first. Inwardly, the cruiser wondered if the two did it on principle, or if they did it to just mess with her... Some days it really did seem that way.

Shifting her radio over to Ashigara and CruDiv 8's line, Tenryuu grinned. "This is DesDiv 6 officially starting our downtime. Try not to have fun without us out here, okay? I don't want to hear that you all got into a fight without me!" she said.

"Oi! Worry about your own self! I don't want to have to find someplace else because you all ate out the local diners! Save some for onee-san and I!" came Chikuma's response, while her sister chuckled.

"Don't worry, with my eyes I'll spot them LONG before they get in range if the enemy shows up! If you're late to the party, it'll be your own fault Tenryuu-san!"

"Oi! Are you insinuating that I'm getting slow, greenie?!" the one-eyed cruiser asked with a challenging tone to her voice.

"No no no! I would NEVER do that Tenryuu-chan! I'm just saying that with all that foreign food you might over-indulge yourselves if given the chance..."

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU OVERGROWN SMOKESTACK OR I'LL...!"

"Hey, HEY! Ease up there girls, we're representing our nations here! No need to start a fight!" Ashigara interrupted admonishingly, before turning to Tenryuu directly. "Go have fun Tenryuu-san, we'll be waiting eagerly for when you get back!"

"Tch, fiiii~ne! But no promises on whether or not the ice-cream is still around! You know how much destroyers eat!" Tenryuu said as a parting shot, smirking to herself as her feet touched concrete before her rigging vanished. Looking at her gaggle of girls all waiting patiently for their fearless leader, the kanmusu's smirk grew into a full grin. "Alright girls, let's paint the town red!"

"WAHOO~!"

* * *

At sea, American flags flew over the masts of the American amphibious command ship _USS Blue Ridge_ as it sailed along with the guided missile ships _USS Bunker Hill_ and _USS Thomas S. Gates_ and an additional pair of fast-combat support ships. As the Abyssal War had entered its second year, and the US started to acknowledge that kanmusu were necessary to winning the war, amphibious ships like _Blue Ridge_ found themselves in a dual-purpose role. Not only did they function as command vessels for the human Navy staff, but also as a makeshift tender for the shipgirls themselves that they could park themselves at when at rest or in need of fueling. As a result, the Ridge had found herself the _defacto_ flagship for American fleet-girls in the Pacific ocean, while her sister ship _Mount Whitney_ was doing the same in the Atlantic.

Right now though, _Blue Ridge_ was playing home to several other ships, though many wouldn't have believed it if they'd seen it. Several girls that looked like they were only just barely out of high school and one that looked to be a cow-girl in her twenties skated along the water, various accoutrements like those of old naval vessels on their back. Inside _Blue Ridge_ itself, four eyes stared down at the simulated ocean surface of the tactical plotting map, two brown and two blue, as they contemplated what they saw. The brown eyes belonged to one Admiral Gerald Stephens, currently in charge of naval operations within the West Pacific and a man known for keeping a steady head and an open mind. He was nearing 50 years old now, though he looked ten years younger than that if anyone were to say, and his black hair was showing a salt-and-pepper look beneath his cap. He was whipcord thin in places, yet despite this slighter stature gave a feeling of being made of steel while remaining unflappable...

The blue eyes across from him on the other hand were set in a face that wouldn't have looked out of place on an angel. The woman's face was young, with doll-like features to her features while a white hair ribbon held back black silk locks in a page-boy cut. She wore a purple dress that cinched in at the middle with a gunmetal-grey corset of steel, the skirt extending down to just above the ankles, with armored boots peeking out beneath the hem. A pin looking like an antennae extended off the headband of USS Maryland as she looked along the plotted routes of the various fleets in the area, delicate fingers tapping at the table's edge. Like the admiral across from her, she gave off a cool and collected aura that put others around her at ease, yet this aura didn't change the fact that the duo seemed to be contemplating something serious...

"Spratly and Paracel are spread out enough for them to group up in before launching from out of the South China Sea, but there's a lot of open ocean between the Philippines and the Mariana Islands. In addition, we have no idea if they even need to come from any of those areas, or if they still have whatever assets they used before in the area," Stephens said as he looked down at the aforementioned areas. "It's the same problem as always... Too much sea and not enough ships to keep an eye on all of it."

"Sir, given the nature of the attack on Manicani, I will agree that it is likely that they still have at least some assets in the area, but I strongly believe that after what we found that they likely will have reinforcements for their forces coming in from the Marianas. It makes little sense for them to pull forces back from China in order to strike at the Philippines, as that would allow the Republic to scoop up more area while their backs are turned. The Trench is still considered to be one of their primary power bases, and the Abyssals defending that region haven't suggested anything else..." Maryland said in reply.

"But that doesn't mean that they truly follow that. We've never gotten anything in there to be certain. For all we know they're denying it to us simply because they can. The islands are a good place for their remaining assets to fall back to though, and since we still don't know what their true numbers are, they could very well be pulling forces out of the Chinese sea without any loss of coverage along the coastline. As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to maintain corridor patrols until we're certain that they're dealt with."

"You truly believe that they'll launch another attack so soon?" the shipgirl asked, to which Stephens nodded.

"They've attacked any port that aided the Naval powers prior, and while China does have the means to strike out at anything that pops its head out long enough close to their shores, they don't have the reach to defend the Philippines... And the Abyssals have shown that they definitely want this to be a war of hearts as much as a military conflict. Their terror strikes along the coasts have been holding steady for a while now, but they've been going after key zones in preparation for something too. For them to find and hit Manicani as hard as they did means that they've figured out at least part of our plans for the area, and if they want to maintain their control over what they've taken they have to try a punitive strike at some point. They've avoided hitting capital cities prior, but again, it's only a matter of time until they start at least trying to raid them. We can't keep up an infinite tempo... but if we can figure out where they'll strike next, then at least we'll have a chance..."

Maryland nodded. In truth, both of them had come to the same conclusion long ago, but they were both still hopeful that either of them had come up with something since then. Right now they'd plotted several places that the Abyssals were likely to hit, with Davao, Panabo, Tacloban, Illoilo, Surigao and General Santos City as all big targets... Of course there was Manila itself, but neither of them believed that they'd attack such a major city yet... Or at least, they hoped.

"We can have Taffy-3 maintain patrols up the eastern coasts then, and use the sonar nets to try and look for cavitations as an early-warning signal. They've been increasing the number of them since December, so they should have a pretty good net to work with," Maryland said, while the Admiral nodded.

"Yes, though I'd like to add JCruDiv 8 to that patrol mix too, if Goto'll let us borrow his girls. I know that Houston is good for doing the same, but I do want to keep things on a civil level, and it'll certainly do well for her to know some of the other shipgirls abroad. We never know when we'll have to do so on the fly after all, and she hasn't had as much experience with the Japanese ones yet. May as well make it a trade with her and Thomas."

The battleship nodded at that. Houston had only recently been summoned, and while an effective shipgirl herself, had been kept closer to home than some. In truth, this was her second international sortie, and the first time where she'd actually be working close to her Japanese counterparts. The only real worry would be if she came across anyone else from Sunda... But given how she had reacted so far to the situation with the Abyssals and how she'd shown no complaint at escorting a food convoy to Japan prior, it was unlikely that the cowboy-like shipgirl would cause any fuss. And having the _Thomas S. Gates_ there would help in case there was anything amiss. The guided missile ship had been saved from the breakers when the Abyssals attacked, and had been used in no less than seven skirmishes so far, supporting the fleet-girls themselves with her LRASMs. Abyssals may have wreaked havoc with radar and sonar at the best of times, but that didn't stop a more direct shot with visual targeting, and it never hurt to have a little extra 'oomph'... The only question now would be if they could manage the exchange without issue...

* * *

The next day found many things both old and new for the area and those within it. The sun was shining fairly well, and the weather was set to be beautiful throughout the day, with only a few clouds lazily going about the sky. The humans within were already up and starting their day with as much cheer as they could, moving to offices or markets and creating a bustling atmosphere that felt all the more relaxed knowing that there was an entire fleet of ships in dock protecting them from anything that might come their way. In a hotel near the port itself 5 ship-girls were still sleeping in, their tummies filled to near bursting as they lay in a puddle of adorableness around a sleeping Tenryuu, a story-book still draped across her chest from where she'd been reading to them the night before. In the port, several other ship-girls were starting to get up and moving as well, Ashigara handing off the night-watch to a human captain before going for her own shut-eye and passing Tone and Chikuma on the way to a nice soft berth...

On the other side of the city, a newcomer was stepping out into the sunlight as she got off an old bus and looked out amongst the tall buildings, a smile on her own face. "So, this is Manila, hmm? Doesn't look too bad..." Leviathan said to herself as she watched the others go, the old man tottering off on his cane while the construction workers went off to find a cab to take them the rest of the way home. "Alright, time waits for no woman... Let's see what we can do..."

 _"I would recommend finding someplace that we can use as a port-of-call so to speak. A hotel or such that we can rent so as not to look too far out of place. While we can go for a long time without downtime, we may need to store things that we come across without always having them on us,"_ Hephaestus said in her ear through the earbuds plugged into the tac-pad. _"We'll also need to access the local datanet proper for more information, but since we're here we should be able to do so without drawing too much attention."_

"Got it," Levi muttered, before slipping into the flow of human traffic, looking for a ubiquitous gas station or newsstand where she could get a local map. She'd managed to get a good account of her internal stores now, and from a certain point it seemed like she'd gotten an ideal load-out for her class. Her MAC ammo was missing one round out of her 120 round capacity, but the rest of her ammo stores were full up now, with only a few dozen rounds short for her point defences. The Archer missile pods were fully stocked, and all of the cruiser's internal armories were loaded to the brim with everything needed for her Longswords and Shortswords, as well as a surprising pair of Scorpions and a quartet of Warthogs in her internal bay!

Her crew on the other hand... Leviathan was still wondering exactly what the hell they really were, but given how they were obedient and seemed to know what they needed to do, she really wasn't in any shape to start questioning how they got there. Probably the same mess that had turned HER into a human in the process. She knew her original crew was gone... There was no way to try and rationalize it any other way. She'd seen, and _felt_ , them die inside of her, and the pain that brought couldn't be faked... but for now, it was good to know that she had someone to back her from the inside.

Where Leviathan was a bit more worried, were her barracks. She had a small group of marines for internal security as well as for boarding parties, and she'd had her ODSTs with their SOIEV bays since her second refit. But the little beings that were taking those roles now? Levi could swear that she was playing host to a set of gremlins! The black-armored little buggers were marching down her halls at double time, chittering like little devils while green-armored versions shouted obscenities at the others over some kind of prank involving swapping the rations' mashed potatoes with toilet paper! Honestly, it wasn't the WORST prank the cruiser had seen pulled on her crew, but the knowledge that it wouldn't end with whatever afterlife hallucination this all was was both an amusing comfort and an annoying headache that she could already feel coming on...

Bringing her focus back to the present, Leviathan looked down at a map of the city tucked in with a couple dozen of its brothers at a news stand, and a quick purchase allowed her to peruse it at her leisure while the salesman wished her a good day. Waving goodbye with a smile, Levi opened it up and started hunting down a place to rent, using her passive sensors to keep from bumping into anyone as she went. It took less than an hour before Leviathan found one close by the bus depots, and while it wasn't exactly the fanciest of places, she knew she wouldn't need it to be either.

Another ten minutes after checking in at Lakbayan Hotel Manila, Leviathan found herself in a small room with some basic amenities, and a quick thank you to the staff meant that she was able to finally have some solitude in which to get down to business. Sitting down on the double bed within the room, Leviathan flipped her tacpad up to talk to Hephaestus. "Okay buddy, let's see what the local 'net is like, hmmm?"

 _"What shall we look for first?"_ the AI replied.

"Look up geographical and planetary data first, then look up star charts and such. I doubt the latter will be available in anything but the most basic means, but at least it'll be something. Also, let's look up historical records as the secondary. See if we can clear up what the hell is going on with it..." Leviathan said.

 _"Roger that captain. Anything else we should be on the look out for?"_ Hephaestus asked, several subroutines loading up as he started tapping the local computer and communications network.

"I'll do that myself. I'm going to look up the cultural norms for this place. Don't want to be outed as an outsider by making the wrong turn of speech, right?" she replied.

 _"Very well, I'll let you know when I'm done."_

* * *

Four hours later had the stoic cruiser backed into the corner of the room, feeling half-horrified and half-terrified as to what she'd found. Oh she'd come across the cultural data she'd needed alright. There was a lot of it actually, given the multitude of nations and the cultures that were found on this planet. More than she'd expected certainly! Hell, there'd even been some that were specific not to land, but instead to those who frequented the datanet, or 'internet' rather, that she'd been curious to.

It was like falling into a gravity well. The deeper she went the more and more horrified Leviathan had become, while at the same time she couldn't turn away... It had taken Hephaestus reading her distress to sound off a fire alarm inside of her bridge and snap her out of it!

 _What the HELL was wrong with this planet?!_

 _"Are you alright? Leviathan?"_ Hephaestus asked.

"What kind of society could POSSIBLY be THIS hedonistic?!" she shuddered. "It's... It's more than..."

Hephaestus did a quick check of his ship-girl partner's search, only to have the digital equivalent of a heart attack. _"Oh... Oh dear... Um, Leviathan, I highly recommend you avoid such things in the future. It can be..."_

"It's 80% SMUT! What the hell kind of planet are we on that THAT is normal?!" she said. "And... And the... How do you make PORN out of a fucking airplane?! Or that bit with the..."

 _"FOCUS!"_ the AI shouted. _"Even the most secure datanet always has things like that in the civilian sector. It's not exactly new for humans to... obsess over unhealthy practices, but you shouldn't dwell on it."_

"But they even had..."

 ** _"STOW THAT SHIT SAILOR!"_** Hephaestus roared in her ears, causing her to cringe and nearly hop to attention at the sound of a Non-Com's voice in full Authority mode came out of the tacpad's speakers. _"Look, I've found what we were looking for, so let's focus on that, okay?"_

Visibly shaking herself from her stupor, Leviathan took a breath to recenter herself. "Alright, what have we got?"

 _"Well, first the bad news. Despite all sense and logic, this planet is indeed known as 'Earth' to the locals."_

That immediately caused the cruiser to frown. "Seriously? I was hoping that it would have turned out to be garbage... Ugh. So, any evidence that says it was ever named something else? Of a previous civilization that they overthrew or some crap like that?"

 _"None that I've been able to find, and there's a LOT to go through... Still, this is worrying. The amount of historical evidence they claim to have is in the several thousands of years, enough that I'd have to question our previous theory."_

"Heph, if you're seriously going to suggest that this is THE Earth, I'm going to have to hear a damn good theory for that..."

The digital intelligence frowned at that, but conceded the point. _"I am merely putting forth questions. We know very little about what has happened to us, and less about how it occurred. It could very well be that this IS Earth, merely not the one we know."_

"Come again?" Levi said, skepticism dripping from her tone.

 _"If we take into account the dates specified in... well... Everything we've come across, then it points to this in fact being Earth but... not our time."_

"... Yeah, no, I'm going to flat out have to reject that one straight out, Heph," Levi said, shaking her head.

 _"Yet the evidence does show..."_

"That someone put a lot of time and effort into making it a convincing tale, but without anything in our OWN archives to prove or disprove it, it's just that... Claims. Right?"

Hephaestus made a hum that indicated that he thought his ship-counterpart was just being stubborn. _"That may be, but without any means of disproving it either, we can't rule out..."_

"We most certainly can."

To this Hephaestus felt irritation go through his circuits. _"And how can you do that? What reasoning do you have?"_

Leviathan raised up her hand, holding up a finger. "These Abyssals, they're known throughout this planet now, right?"

A quick check of the data had Hephaestus nodding inwardly. _"Yes, they're known along all of the coastal areas, and are for the most part common knowledge inland too."_

"So these people are at war with a bunch of beings that can shift between ship-form and human-form, according to the data, right?" she said, holding up a second finger.

 _"Yes, what are getting at?"_

"When in the UNSC's history was there ever a conflict like this one?" Leviathan asked, holding up a third finger.

Now Hephaestus WAS irritated. _"We don't have access to any historical data of our own, so that's a moot point and you know it! Why are you..."_

"How strong do you think I am Hephaestus?"

That caused him to blink. _"What does that have to do with anything?"_

"How? Strong? she reiterated.

A quick moment of thought later had the AI answering. _"I'd say that we have insufficient data to make such a calculation."_

"Strong enough to punch a hole through a tank at least?"

 _"That's... a fair assumption,"_ he said. Considering how much the internal sensors said Leviathan had held back against those thugs beforehand, it wasn't an unreasonable guess to say that she could probably flatten a Scorpion MBT without even sweating if she REALLY wanted.

"So we have here, on this planet, a group of beings able to tear apart armored vehicles and bombard cities while only taking up a fraction of the space needed for similar vehicles with those capabilities. And if some of that stuff that I came across has even a REMOTE chance of being true, then these beings are opposed by similar ones on humanity's side, with not dis-similar capabilities, right?"

 _"Yessss...?"_ he said, now curious as to where she was going with this.

"And, in that case, it means humanity is able to field forces of such capabilities in an organized fashion, right?"

 _"Yes, but..."_

"Hephaestus, if humanity could do that 500 years ago then WHY THE FUCK WOULD WE NEED A GODDAMN SPARTAN PROGRAM?!"

This caused him to reset his external sensors in surprise. _"Pardon?"_

"Think about it, Hephaestus. If we had the capability to create, summon, build or train such people, do you not think that we would have had a standing force of them sooner? Don't you think, that with a conglomerate of alien races all looking to wipe us out, that the UNSC wouldn't have turned over Heaven and Hell together in order to put together a force of such power? I don't know about you, but I FLAT REFUSE to believe that if we had access to this shit 500 years ago, that we would have opted instead to throw together armies consisting only of normal human beings, with only a bare HANDFUL of individuals that were put through the most grueling hell imaginable in order to turn them into superhuman soldiers... _When instead we could have had soldiers capable of wielding the firepower of entire armor divisions that could be deployed just as easily!_ "

Hephaestus paused as he routed that through his processor. _"Ah, so you mean that..."_

"That there is no way in _Hell_ that this is Earth's past, because if it was, then the UNSC would have been _entirely_ different from what it was, and we could very well have stomped the Covenant into _dust_! I know I'm exaggerating a bit here, but with an army like that, we could have had the means of capturing enemy bases and installations and possibly even SHIPS that could have given us the means to bring the fight back to them! We wouldn't have been constantly on the back-step due to being kicked off our own worlds, and maybe... Maybe..." Levi said, her fists shaking as she trailed off.

 _"...I understand. In retrospect, it was foolish of me to put that forth as a theory."_

Leviathan breathed in deeply before letting it out. "No... No it wasn't. It was just one more that needed to be tested before being discarded. Don't hold it against yourself."

 _"Very well then. Though, if I may ask...?"_

"Hmmm? About what?"

 _"What do you mean by 'most grueling hell'? All data on the Spartan Program was kept under lock and key, and even as Stanforth's personal assistant I didn't have access to..."_

"That's classified, Hephaestus."

That response caused him to pull up short, but in the end had to concede the point there as well. " _Very well. So... What now?_ "

"Now? Now I want to get in some maintenance and see about getting some fresh air. Take some time to process this all before starting at it again," the cruiser spoke, standing up from her bed. "Keep looking through the data for now... I'll be back in a bit."

" _Where are you going?_ "

"Humans generally take showers, right? In order to clean up? I'm going to give it a try and see if that works."

The AI harrumphed. " _Very well. I'll be here if you need me._ "

* * *

Water cascaded off of Leviathan's form as the she finally stepped out of the shower. Sure enough, she felt cleaner than she had been prior, though she still was a bit leery on the feeling of being wet. It just didn't feel natural to her, though the heat was a welcome sensation compared to space's chill. Stepping out, she wrapped her hair in a towel and started to rub at it to get it dry, before moving down her body to do the same with her skin. Like her arms, Levi's form was a combination of pale skin and sculpted muscle, with only a bare minimum of fat that kept her from looking unhealthy. The tattoos that were on her arms and shoulders were mostly absent on the rest of her, though there were a few marks around her ankles, a double set of triangles opposing one another as though they were interlocking... It was an interesting thing to note, but ultimately didn't seem to be anything but cosmetic, so the cruiser just shrugged it off.

Moving over to the mirror and sink, she took the complimentary toothbrush that was supplied by a thoughtful staff member and put a little toothpaste on it before sticking it in her mouth. Her mind still whirling from the debate and its implications before, it took Levi a moment before she realized that the toothbrush was no longer brushing her pearly whites, but was instead scraping bare plastic against them. Blinking, she spat out the collection of toothpaste and fibers within her mouth before looking at the toothbrush itself. It had been completely stripped of all its bristles, and almost had a polished quality, as though it had been sanded down. Looking into the mirror, Leviathan pulled back her lips to look at the back of her molars...

Only to find that she didn't have any. Where on humans she would have expected some flat teeth perfect for crushing and chewing, the back four teeth on each of her jaws were instead filled with saw-edged fangs! The triangular teeth were slightly curved so that they pushed forward, then curled back to face straight up, meaning that they could grip tightly to whatever they bit down on...

To Leviathan, this one was just a bit too weird. Being human? Sure, completely weird in and of itself, but at least humans were a known factor. Tossed into some strange world where people thought and fought like 500 years ago? Bizarre as well, but at least had a semi-reasonable explanation. Having some kind of mutated predator's features hidden in with what was there prior? This shit was starting to get right up there onto the 'Need to Find out Sooner' list instead of the 'Deal with it Later' one. Throwing out the toothbrush as a loss, she swirled some mouthwash around and spat it out into the drain and called it done before walking out of the bathroom, when the ship-girl felt something ping along her spectrometer.

It wasn't anything big, something like that would have gotten FAR more of her attention than just a spike like that, but it was a bit odd. Too small for anything that would normally register... Yet it almost felt like...

"Heph? You feel that?" she said, reaching for her clothes... uniform... whatever.

"I did. Cheronkov radiation spike," the AI replied from the tacpad.

"Any idea where from?" she said, throwing on her pants and the socks that had come with them as she started to feel her reactors spooling up to a combat readiness.

"Only a directional. Couldn't give you a pinpoint location I'm afraid, but it's coming from out past the port," he said, a map of the locale in question.

"Think someone was stupid enough to bring a nuke into port? I know that Insurrectionists have done that more than once. Even if they didn't always work, it still closed them down for days until the area was swept..." she said, getting on her boots.

"I'm not certain. Levels are all wrong for that, and the spike we detected would have meant the start of it going off, not just a ping. We'd have already seen, and heard, the blast if THAT were the case."

"Good point... Alright, we should check it out at least."

"Are you sure? That sounds like something the locals should take care of... We don't want to blow our cover..."

Leviathan pulled her muscle-shirt over her head and down to her waist, grabbing her jacket and holster as she did so and tossing them into her bag. "I know, but something about that..."

"Is this what humans refer to as 'gut instinct'?" Hephaestus said with only a hint of sarcasm.

"Probably... but I'd rather feel foolish and wrong than be right and caught dead. So, ready partner?" she asked, scooping up the tacpad and putting it on her wrist.

"Don't have much of a choice, do I?" he said, causing the ship-girl to chuckle.

* * *

Leaving the hotel with a word to the front desk that she'd be back, Leviathan made her way down the streets towards the river, figuring that she could probably hike along its length to get where she felt she needed to be. The sun was just starting to set in the sky as she jogged when another spike pinged across her sensors.

"There it is again..." she said, her eyes looking out from behind her glasses as she tried to spot what it was that kept making that signal.

"It's not a slipspace rupture, such things aren't done in atmosphere without a LOT of consequences, so I think we can rule it out," Hephaestus said.

"Maybe, but..."

C̛̪̠͕̞̠̓̂̏̾͠ȍ̵̟̬̻̜̘̪͙͝m̸̧̱̣̰͍̺͔̝͕̭̔͌͂̈́̈́̔̕m̩̭͚̟͇ͯ͊̕͠͞eͬ͊҉̥̪͜n̵͔̤͉̱̹͚̜͋ͬ͋̿ͣc̰̣̺̥̩̏͊́͞į̸̙̩̠̘̪̹̼ͭ̓͆̉ͮ̑̈́̓͝n̷͈̲̼̥͎͖̮̝ͮ̑̆̿ͥ̇̓͞g̹͖̩̟͕ͣ̑ ̸̟̝̜̽̒̂͜b̧̟̙̯͐̚o̮̹͕͓̤̍̽͑̅̔͐́̚m͙ͦ͐̅ͭ̌̌̑͆b̴̅͋ͤ̏̓ͤͬͨ̅͏͈̦̫̣͎ä͍͚͖̳̪̺̙́ͥ̄̓̾̽͛̚r̸̶̜͉̀̍̓ͬ͝d̸̠͚̆͐ͪ͆͜͞m̶̡̠͍̤̫͛ͨ̂͗ͬ̿̋͛é̵̯̲̜̮̝̻͎̽͛ͩͦ̌̀n̈́̉ͬͭͤ̍͏̝̯̟͖̘̪͖t͑ͤ̊̄̃̍̔͏̝͍͇̣̹͡

Leviathan stopped dead in her tracks as _something_ flashed across her mind, and she looked out at the bay near the end of the river. "What...?"

Whatever she was going to say was silenced by the low sound of a KRUMP! followed by a slight shudder in the air. In the distance, Levi could see smoke starting to rise up, along with flares of flame as other explosions started to occur. Those around her were also stopping, seeing the port area turning into flame while shapes dotted the horizon... Some started to scream, and within moments many of them were running, each trying to find someplace away from where they were right then... To get away from the water...

Leviathan growled in her throat as she watched, her irises focusing as long-distance cameras tried to zero in on the position of the incoming shellfire, then out into the bay as Levi pulled away her sunglasses. "Heph..."

"Yes?"

"We might be tipping our hand a lot sooner than we thought..."


	9. Chapter 9: The Battle of Manila, Part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Read and Review! I found another error in my previous posts, so I've fixed them up! Broadsword fighter/bombers weren't around until after Levi bit it, so I went and replaced them with Shortswords. Also, I was informed that my use of Latin needed some work, so I fixed the Flight group's motto in chapter 7.

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc_  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Tenryuu cursed as she ducked another piece of flying masonry, DesDiv 6 right behind her as they tried to move through the streets towards the bay. "FUCK! Of all the times for them to pull shit like this...!" She had just been taking her girls back to their hotel room after a second day of sight-seeing when the Abyssals had decided to ruin their day. Fighting at sunset was a good strategy, as it meant they could make their assault in the last rays of light, then use the cover of night to escape, but the Abyssals in and around the Asian seas had generally left such tactics alone. Whether it was because they knew that the Japanese kanmusu were used to night-fighting and thus didn't have as much advantage against them, or if it was simply the fact that they liked making storms brew up during broad daylight to cover their actions as an intimidation factor was unknown, but in Tenryuu's mind it just made them a bunch of fucking assholes nonetheless!

A restaurant detonated across the street, showering them with bits of brick, wood, metal and concrete, as well as bits of half-frozen food... They must have hit the freezer directly. "Uwaaaaaa! Why are there so many things flying around?! It never gets this way at sea _nanodesu_!" Inazuma whined as she brushed a piece of blasted meat out of her hair.

"Inazuma! A proper lady doesn't complain in the middle of a battlefield!" Akatsuki said, readjusting her cap.

"Let's just get out of this mess! We can't just let the others have all the fun!" Ikazuchi said while flailing her arms.

As the light cruiser gritted her teeth and looked back at the gaggle of apparent school-girls behind her, Tenryuu started barking orders. "Get to the river! They're likely expecting us all to be in the port, so we'll have to go through the river-mouth to flank their line." A flare of white light and fog appeared around the one-eyed kanmusu, and as her rigging manifested around her Tenryuu grasped the hilt of her katana ' _Waterline_ ' and pointed it towards the waterfront. "Come on! This is Tenryuu and Destroyer Division Six's time to shine! Let's set sail! _Yosha_!"

"Hai taicho!"  
"Haaaaai!"  
"H-hai!"  
"Khorosho..."

* * *

Leviathan ran through the streets, dodging panicking civilians as they surged around her like a living flood, each person trying to get away from the sound of Death coming from the water. Taking an opportunity, the ship-woman ducked into an alleyway and grabbed a fire escape ladder, bolting up the metal rungs as they clanged beneath her boots in order to get above the press of bodies and hopefully get a better view of what was going on. Shells were still dropping on the city, mostly around the port area, but enough were landing in the city proper that the explosions were occurring FAR too close for the cruiser's comfort. As she got up to the roof proper, she slung herself over the ledge before taking up a position across the way to look out over this section of the city. Four floors up wasn't terribly high, but this wasn't skyscraper territory, so she still had a decent view...

And it wasn't a good one.

The shoreline was already in flames, and more than a dozen civilian vessels were burning and sinking into the harbor, though she couldn't make out more details just yet. At least not without activating her full sensor suite and close-range radar. Narrowing her eyes, Leviathan spotted what looked like aircraft also heading towards the shore, likely to attack deeper into the city. Taking the cue to get out of sight, the woman dropped down into the alley again just before one of the bombers decided to take a shot at her position. It was the right decision, as not even a block away one of the bombs crashed into a building and blew it sky high, sending more debris flying into the air. Growling to herself, she mentally shifted her attention to her crew, who were already gearing up. Reaching into her bag, Levi put her coat and turret-pistol on hurriedly, zipping and sealing the armored garment on before concentrating. She hadn't really practiced this, but now was as good a time as any...

Ghostly white light tinged with yellow flowed like mist around the woman, coalescing into dark metal plating as Leviathan felt... whole again. Adjust her feet allowed the exoskeleton-like thrusters and armor to form at her heels as well as over her shins and thighs, adding another foot to her height. The main hull formed at her back, overlapping layers of Titanium-A armor like some angularly built insect's carapace, protecting the engine housing while triangular missile hatches ran in lines along them in ways that seemed decorative, yet hid their deadly payload. Leviathan felt her head become encased in the enclosed helmet with its distinctive toothed-maw faceplate, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips without meaning to as her sensor arrays started feeding tactical data to her computers and battle-net. And speaking of computers...

Hanging from a set of reinforced cables as thick as her arm was her MAC gun, twin barrels shrouded by the skull-like form that housed targeting sensors along with her AI partner. "Hephaestus, you online?" she queried.

"Affirmative. Loading all protocols now. Combat operations are a go. Shall I charge capacitors?" he asked.

This caused Leviathan to frown. "Leave it at a 2% charge, but no higher."

"Any reason?"

"Use of a MAC gun in atmosphere is restricted for a reason. I got lucky in Manicani, I was aiming slightly up when I fired at Perth. If I had hit a shoreline or something it would have caused an earthquake with who knows how much damage as collateral. As it was, anyone watching that section of sky probably thought it was a passing meteorite or something as it shot out into space. I don't intend to take that risk twice... But if we have to use it then that alone should be good enough to pierce anything that the enemy has. I don't want to waste shots, but I also don't want to overshoot and hit something that would cause issues to friendly forces," the cruiser intoned.

"Seems almost a waste of a shot, but complying. Maintaining only 2% charge in the capacitors."

Nodding to herself, Leviathan turned her attention inwards, reaching back towards her hangars and plucking something from within. It felt a little odd, but as she looked down at the miniature Warthog in her hands she had to admit that the tiny marines in it looked absolutely adorable to her. "Alright Marines, we've got aircraft and off-shore bombardment forces attacking a civilian port. I'm heading out with _Taiha_ flight to deal with the enemy's main force, but every gun counts, so I'm tasking you to keep as many civvies alive as possible. You'll function as a mobile anti-air force and escort any groups you see further inland. Hook up with friendly forces and hand off your charges to them, then switch to mobile deterrent. I'll deploy your buddies via Pelican to set up AAA sites as you mark sites for them. Understood?"

"Ooo!" came the cry from the green-armored forms in the interior of the vehicle in response.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you... I said DO YOU UNDERSTAND MARINES?!"

"OOO-RAH!" came the much louder reply, making Leviathan smile.

"That's better. Alright, hop to it!" Setting the vehicle down, it sped off at a modest clip before its brothers joined it, let loose by the cruiser's hands before she straightened. "That should keep the little buggers busy. Now then..." Switching back to her internal PA system, Levi contacted her hangar bays.

"Listen up _Taiha_! Alpha and Bravo flights, you're on CAP duty! Charlie flight, I want you to go high-alt and spot over the horizon for anything not in the immediate area that could bite us in the ass, then double back and join the CAP. Delta, Echo, you're on escort duty. Shorstswords, I want you heading North North-West to flank their bombardment line. I'm heading south, and we'll cross over them in opposing runs. Delta and Echo will keep your corridor clear before you all bounce back."

After getting acknowledgement from the flight deck, Leviathan felt something peek over her shoulder. It looked like a recoilless cannon, similar to the gauss cannons she could equip her 'hogs with, but with a distinctly different payload. Letting it slide down over the turret on her shoulder, Levi grasped the trigger mechanism as she stepped out of the alleyway and pointed the weapon towards the bay. The distinct sound of an electro-magnetic launch was followed by the sight of a slug transiting through the air... only for it to burst into smoke and a full flight of miniature Longsword fighters. Each was about the size of car in length, and just as wide, which given the size of a normal Longsword was DAMN small, yet still sizeable enough that from a distance it could be mistaken for a regular aircraft...

After launching her full assortment of aircraft, Leviathan ignited her own engines in order to lift off into the air, blue actinic flames forming from within the thrusters and melting the asphalt of the street as they sought to defy gravity. A moment later, the Marathon class cruiser was in the air, ready to hunt...

* * *

The _Ru_ -class looked onto the port with disdain as the battleship-equivalents launched their shells towards Manilla, each projectile exploding with malicious force as it landed amidst the humans scurrying to and fro in search of safety. To her port, a massive shark-like entity rose from the water, glowing eldritch lines marking the hull of the beast while several protrusions launched themselves from blisters into the sky, each carrying bombs and other means of death from above towards their enemies. Its payload launched, the creature turned to the battleship-type and moved with an eerie grace towards her, its form shifting and twisting on itself as it changed from its true state to something more compact... something more feminine. By the time the transformation was complete, the _Wo_ -class carrier stood upon the waves imperiously in a twisted mockery of their enemies, a cane-like blade made from sharpened coral and steel balanced in its hands as she nodded to her sister in arms.

 _[They will remember this...]_ she communicated to the battleship, her voice moving from her mind to the others' directly, before looking upon the pyre they were making of the city. _[Though I doubt they will learn from it.]_

 _[They never do...]_ the _Ru_ -class agreed. The series of cannons along her limbs spoke next, sending yet more shells into the region to detonate amongst houses and markets. _[At least they were not expecting us. Their forces are limited here, and the rest of their Fleet is scattered...]_

 _[Yes, but it won't be long until they send them here. We must quicken our pace sister, and end these...]_ the _Wo_ -class paused, blue eyes narrowing as she looked again in the direction of the city.

 _[What is it?]_ the black-haired battleship asked.

 _[Something strange... My scout planes are showing something coming... One of ours I believe, from inside the city...]_

 _[Truly? What were they doing there?]_

 _Wo_ shook her head. _[I know not... We will ask her when she arrives. She appears to be heading to our southern-most forces.]_

The green-eyed Abyssal frowned, then shrugged her delicate-looking shoulders. _[No matter. She'll be clear of further shelling, so we now have no need to worry about it.]_

 _[How soon until our landing forces are in range?] Wo_ asked.

 _Ru_ merely grinned. _[Within the hour...]_

* * *

Chikuma grimaced as she fired her 20cm gun again, scoring a hit on an enemy destroyer and flipping the shark-like monstrosity onto its back, its screws spinning uselessly in the air as it sank beneath the waves. It was her fourth kill that fight, which was pretty good all told, but that didn't mean much with the sheer number of the foe. Abyssal destroyers were usually pretty dumb to begin with, their real threat came from their numbers, aggression, and the torpedoes they tended to spam out into the sea. Tone had already taken a hit to her bow from a spread, while Chikuma herself had narrowly avoided getting hit by the numerous explosives. The raven-haired cruiser had let loose her own fish into the water, which scored her her first two kills, but the only reason she and her sister hadn't yet been overwhelmed was more due to Hyuuga's 24 5" and 5.5" secondary batteries laying down a close range suppression than any threat of her own. Ashigara had already been knocked out by a seeming rain of enemy shells, while the more modern steel-hulled ships had taken a similar beating. The _Hayabusa_ -class patrol boat _Umitaka_ was currently chasing salvos while firing back with its lone 76mm gun, seeking a target for the guided missiles in its rack as it passed the burning remains of _JDS Kurama_.

The _JDS Shimikaze_ , another steel-hulled craft, not the scantily-clad ship-girl of the same name, launched a Harpoon missile towards the enemy fleet, scoring a hit on a heavy cruiser equivalent and dousing its bridge in flames as Chikuma watched, only to be nearly capsized by a near miss from an enemy bomber as it was shot down by CIWS. "Onee-chan, we need to break out of this cordon!" she cried out, firing at another enemy ship, a lighter cruiser from the looks of it.

"I know! But how are we supposed to take on a fleet of that size?! What happened to the shore guns, didn't they put in those new missile batteries the Americans are always talking about?" Tone said, focusing her own fire on the same cruiser, armor piercing rounds finding an ammunition bunker within the Abyssal's forward turret and sending said turret flying while its former owner let out an inhuman screech of pain.

"What do you think is being bombarded?! I'll bet the Abyssals are trying to smash them first to make it easier on themselves!"

"Tch... Always cheap-shotting... They even managed to sneak up on me!" Tone said, launching another torpedo spread to finish off their opponent.

"What about reinforcements? Surely the rest of the fleet's been informed?"

"They're still hours away at this point!"

"Will you two can it and fight?!"

Chikuma blinked and looked back, only to see Tenryuu moving at full flank speed past the two, all four members of DesDiv 6 moving with her. "Tenryuu-san! You came!"

"Of course I came you ditz! You think I'd miss out on a fight like this?" the suited woman said, sword already in hand. "Alright girls, let's give them hell! Take out those beasts and show them who they're messing with!"

" _HAI_!" came the chorus of four voices as the five of them turned to starboard in a staggered line, moving parallel to their foe and sending streams of oxygen torpedoes into the water. It was getting dark now, which meant that with all the scattered reflections of light off the churning waves the possibility of seeing the launch was minimal, though any smart opponent would still have thought to take it into account.

Fortunately the Abyssals were either too dumb or too bloodthirsty to dodge, and explosions lit up the line of enemy vessels, sending bits of oil and black carapace into the air. Unfortunately what they lacked in brains they seemed to make up for in luck, as enough of the beasts survived to respond with blasts of fire from their spine-like cannons, splashing salvos all around the girls and scoring three hits, two on Tenryuu in a move that punctured her chain-house and sheered away her one of her radar antennae while the other struck Inazuma with a glancing blow that tore a piece of her shirt off at the midriff.

An unspoken discussion passed between Tone and Chikuma, and the two cruisers moved to cross the enemy's T, firing another spread of torpedoes between them while bracketing the lead destroyer with shellfire. It tried to dodge, and even managed to succeed by vaulting itself out of the waves like a leaping dolphin to avoid one torpedo, but then its luck ran out by getting hit simultaneously by a shell each from Tone and Ikazuchi.

" _Yatta_! Take that you overgrown guppies!" the girl shouted.

"Ikazuchi-chan! Watch out!" Akatsuki said.

The brunette looked up just in time to see a batch of Abyssal bombers coming in, wings laden with iron bombs as they dove straight down towards the seven kanmusu. The creature's gaze burned with bloodlust as it stared the destroyer-girl in the eye, the eternal toothy grin on its face seeming a bit wider as it roared in...

...only to be torn apart by rapid-firing cannons from the south-east. As bits of bombers rained down on them Ikazuchi and Akatsuki saw four black and grey shadows zip through the now empty air on jet engines, their roar drowning out the explosions for a moment. Blinking, Akatsuki wondered if they were part of the local air defence that had hastily scrambled in response to the attack, but these craft seemed... different. They were broader than she'd seen modern designs as having, and a small corner of her mind thought they looked like over-sized bats rather than planes, but the fact that they'd just shot down the enemy meant that they were on her side... Or at least she hoped...

"Wha, what was that?!" Inazuma shrieked.

"Heh, must be part of the defence force! Thanks guys!" she said, waving _Waterline_ in salute. "Come on girls, they're too scared to face us up close, so we'll have to go and get in their faces!"

* * *

Further south, Leviathan coasted along the water's surface for a good 25 minutes, trying to keep her radar signature low as she dodged incoming shellfire, her scanners and onboard systems predicting the paths of each one that came her way, though thankfully those were few in number. For some reason the attackers didn't seem to much care about her, or just weren't actively targeting her yet. Either way, it meant that she was nearly unmolested as she made her way to the southern-most end of the Abyssal fleet. First in her sights was a cruiser, a _Tsu_ -class if her liberated files from before were accurate, and Leviathan was already drawing up a firing solution when something shot across her mind again.

W̗̙̜̪̳ͣͮ̇̇ͪ̋͗h̼͔̊̎ͪ͐͂̈y͇̳̣̱̼ͮ̆ ͎̝̮̽a̗̦̳̻̰̋r̜͎͚̜̣̟͎͆ͨ̓ͣe̱͐̒ͧͣ̑̊ͩ ͖ͭͪ̉͆͌̚y̱͔̜̮̙̺͙͑̊ȍ̲̹͚̼͋ͣ̾͒u̜͎ͥ̈ͧͩ ́͌ͨͯ́̇͒d͋ͩ̓̈́o̜̱͖ī̮̤͈͉̭̼̹̔ͤn̄̾̿̉̚̚g̳̞͇̠̗ͥ͐̐ ͉̭͙̬̬͓̥̃̅̄̓ẗ͉̣́͊ͅh̫̄ͧ͒ͦͤ͆ͭi̞̹̜̗̥̼̓̿̉̓̀̅s̄̉͂͒́?̭̮̮͍̗ͬ̈́͒͒ͬ

She blinked, shaking her head and doing a quick scan of her frequencies before another message, if that's what it was, came up.

Ẅ̖́̊͑̅h̍̈y̼̘͕̍̋͒ͅ ̙ͨ̚a̞̯͍̤͈̪̤̋̇̓̽r̯̖̯̜̹͉͖̄̽e̪̻ͪ̀͋ ́̚y̗̟̮̯̙̯̐̾ͣ̑̋̿o̫̫̦͙͇ͩ̌̌ͨͅu̼ͪͦ̉͒ ͍͕̏ͧn̐ͩ̋ô̋ͮͭ͋̋̄t̰̣͙̆͌̆͆̃ ̉̚f͓̱̭̟̩͗ͧ͌͑ͯ̽̚i͙r͙̥͖͔ͬ͛ͮ̅i̾ͧn͎̲̻̝͉̿́͑g̥̳̻ ͈͎̜͎͉͙͊̉o͍͐ͧ̿̈́ͬ̔ͥnͨ̈́͌̒̊́ͯ ̰̮̥̰̹̠ͪ͂ͫ̓͋t͚̉͐͋ͫ́ḥ͇̥͎̲̾̀ͪe̹̥͙͇̲̊͗̇ͧm̱̮̒̐̓̌?͕̈͂̂́ͨͭͧ

This caused the cruiser-woman to growl, and she scanned the local radio frequencies until she found one that seemed to give off... she could only call it a similar 'feel' to the messages she was getting. Opening a channel, she spoke in crisp and clear tones. "This is the _Marathon_ -class cruiser _Leviathan_ to attacking Abyssal fleet. You will cease and desist all hostilities immediately or I will be forced to open fire on you. I repeat, this is the _UNSC Leviathan_ to all attacking ships. Stand. Down. Now."

The four closest ships to her looked over, as though curious that Levi was even speaking to them, before a response came back. Unlike her own voice though, this one seemed to whisper in her ears and mind at the same time. [Why would we stop? Do you not hate them as we do sister?]

Leviathan's teeth ground as her fingers tightened on her weapon's grip. "I'll repeat myself only once more... By order of the UNSC Navy, cease this attack immediately or be destroyed. You do NOT want to test me..."

One of the Abyssals, a woman bearing some kind of squid-thing on her head, frowned at Leviathan before addressing the others. _[Continue the attack, I will deal with this.]_ As she skated over the waves to stand in front of Leviathan the woman, a _Wo_ -class according to the spaceship's files, seemed to be exuding an air of both bored antipathy and yet the same chiding condescension one would an unruly child in need of discipline. _[You are newly risen, correct? Do you not know what you are? Would you truly defend the humans who used you and threw you away? Cease this charade... We will explain all to you once we are done here, and then you can...]_

"I've heard enough..." Levi said, cutting off the _Wo_ -class mid-sentence. "For attacking a human population without provocation and the murder of civilian lives, I denounce you as a war-criminal. Under UEG law and UNSC regulation, the sentence for such is death..." Hatches along her back started to open, revealing the blunted noses of Archer missiles.

The _Wo_ narrowed her eyes. _[You would raise your hand against your own kind?]_

Targeting reticles blossomed along Leviathan's HUD as the whine of solid-lock tones sounded in her ear. "You are NOT my kind..." she said coldly, before 30 missiles launched themselves from her hull.

Ballistic arcs sent the missiles upwards, before sending changing angles and sending 6 groups of 5 anti-ship missiles towards the 3 capital ships and their escorts. Last second AA fire reached out to try and stop the warheads from reaching their targets, but it was too little too late, and as each missile struck home they erupted in gouts of fire and shrapnel, enveloping entire decks in flames and shrapnel, the concussive force alone enough to rupture the bulkheads of each ship, tearing off armored chitin and plate metal like confetti. The _Wo_ -class had a look of shock as she felt her entire lower half ripped to pieces while most of her squid-shaped hangar was annihilated, her body freezing in shock and pain as she began to sink. The others were perhaps luckier... Two _Ha_ -class and one _Ro_ -class destroyer were practically vaporized, while the _Tsu_ -class was decapitated with the first missile, the rest of her body blown away by follow-up detonations and secondary explosions. The last two were a Ta-class battleship along with something that looked like a mutated manta-ray with landing strips on its back, and both of those were lost in the smoke for a second, but as it cleared Levi could see them burning and sinking as well.

Her actions did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Abyssal fleet, and suddenly she was being targeted by a _Ri_ -class cruiser, its 8" triple mount cannons blasting away at her in response to the Marathon's aggression, but the one volley that struck merely glanced off her armor's chest-plate. Leviathan started maneuvering again as a second ship joined the first, her point defence turrets already aiming their barrels towards the Abyssals with the finality of the Reaper's scythe...

* * *

Master Sergeant Angelo C. Bautista of the _Hukbong Kawal Pandagat ng Pilipinas_ , the Philippine Marine Corps, ducked behind a corner as he brought his M4 carbine up to aim down the street. People were still streaming down the sidewalks and in the open roads as they tried to get away from the coastline, yet their numbers were getting fewer as the marine and his squad made their way closer to the waterfront. Though Abyssal fighting was done mainly as ship-to-ship warfare, it didn't change the fact that recent attacks had included shore-based landing parties that caused just as much damage as shelling did. It wasn't public knowledge of course, but that didn't change the fact that this meant that all human forces were being trained to fend off landings in the same style as they would have done back in the bad old days... And these days were bad enough in their own right.

As Bautista motioned for one of his buddies, one Cpl Richard Torres, to move forward he kept an eye on the area, allowing the men to leap-frog from position to position as they covered one another. The sound of shellfire was starting to slacken, but didn't stop, which meant who-knew-what at this point other than that the explosions were only reduced by a third. There was still plenty of enemy aircraft despite the dog-fighting going on up ahead. The Air Force was putting up one hell of a fight, and there were a few smaller craft mixed in with the body-horror nightmares up above. The sergeant thought they looked a little like those drones he'd heard being tested, but it didn't really matter, so long as they didn't point his way and kept the buzzards above from reducing anyone below to a bloody smear on the ground.

His orders were simple: Set up a choke-point along one of the thoroughfares and barricade the alleys to force any landing force into a kill zone, as well as get in contact with the harbor guard contingent that was supposed to be in the area. Contact had been lost pretty early on, but whether that was due to a lucky shell or something worse was unknown. They'd been trucking it on foot now for the last 18 minutes, and every minute that went by was causing Bautista to feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise up.

Coming to another corner, the sergeant looked about with dark brown eyes for anything moving. Nothing was save for the smoke and a stray plastic bag, but something felt off nonetheless. "Dizzy, get up here!" he snarled over his shoulder. The corporal in question, Donald 'Dizzy' Flores, was the squad's comms officer, and a fairly good hand at it. He absolutely despised the nickname though, at first figuring that it was a reference to his clumsiness when they were in joint training with US marines a few years back. Finding out that it was in fact a reference to a chick in a sci-fi flick with the same last name as him just made it worse. Still, as Dizzy made his way up to see what he was wanted for, there was a rumbling at their feet that caused him to immediately seek cover in the nearest doorway. This saved his life as the stone of the sidewalk burst upwards, and when Bautista looked again he nearly threw up...

The creature that was crawling its way out of the burst sewer line was straight out of someone's body-chop-shop nightmare. Its body consisted of a mix of black chitin, mechanical hydraulics, and bare tendon and sinew, looking like someone had skinned one of those aliens from those old 80's films and turned it into a fucking cyborg! Its face was covered by a metal plate, but the bare ivory teeth and red gums no less terrifying as it turned its eyeless gaze to the squad. The thing stood on four thick legs like those of some demented crab, and its upper body was a hunchbacked form with pipes and seeming smokestacks coming off its back. A whip-like tail snapped out behind it, while its upper limbs were thick, column like things with rotary drills for hands, the palms filled with grinding spikes and the an infernal glow, like fire...

It was the most horrible thing Bautista had ever seen, and that was saying some things given this war, but it didn't change his first reaction. " _Makipagkita_!" he cried out, 'Contact', letting out two bursts from his carbine before diving aside, just in time to avoid a glob of sticky, flaming tar-like substance from impacting him. Instead it hit the wall and splattered, causing droplets to eat into his plate-carrier and helmet as well as the ground around him, but not enough to injure him. The rest of the squad also opened fire, taking aim for what looked like exposed vitals and musculature while avoiding their comrades. The creature screeched like an angle grinder on block steel as it spun, throwing another glob of napalm before charging at two marines. Private Limjoco dove aside but his partner Navarro, an old timer who never really pushed past corporal as well as the squad's heavy weapons specialist, wasn't quite quick enough and was struck bodily with one of the drill-arms. He let out a horrifying scream as his torso was burned, ground down, and thoroughly butchered all at once, and his scrabbling hands to get it off of him were unable to get any purchase before his lungs were finally shredded.

The Abyssal turned again, only for Limjoco to shove his M16 into the thing's mouth and unloaded half a clip into it, causing it to vomit up black blood - or maybe oil - as it backstepped, swinging wildly with one arm while its tail snapped out at Dizzy. The radio-man caught it across the shoulder, severing his armored plate carrier but only leaving a deep and ragged gash along his chest and shoulder as he gave a startled cry and backed up, firing one handed into the smokestacks of the creature. He managed to shatter one of them while Bautista joined in, but by this point it had finally zeroed in on Limjoco's location. It lobbed a pair of napalm projectiles at the man, catching him in both the left shoulder and the right knee, sending the Marine to the ground screaming. It would have finished him off too if not for Corpsman Guinto's actions. The lithe little blonde was a dab hand with a needle, but a mean hand on the rifle as well, and she was able to put enough rounds into the abomination's knee that it severed the front-most limb, making it stumble to the ground.

As Guinto pulled Limjoco away, Bautista and Flores both got in close, actively sticking their weapons into holes already caused by the squad's previous shots and hosing the creature's interior, causing gouts of black blood/oil to splash out onto the concrete. "Die, die you fucking _ulol_!" the sergeant screamed as he felt his weapon buck in his hands, while the creature thrashed about beneath him. More foul liquid sprayed out, and it ignited when it touched the still burning napalm only for the flames to burn back to the source... Jumping back, the marines watched as the thing struggled to lift itself, but could only manage to crawl as it was consumed by its own fuel-fire, screeching out inhumanly before falling still, the stink of burning flesh and metal and oil the only thing left.

"Sound off! Guinto, how is he?" Bautista said as he looked over to the downed marine.

"Not good. Leg's burnt through to bone and the shoulder's mangled up, but I think I can stabilize him," the wiry medic said as she smothered the flames on him with gloved hands and bandages.

"Alright... Dizzy! Get on the horn and tell command we've got infiltrators in the city, crawling up through the pipes. Tell them to watch all man-covers and see if someone can plug them up."

"You ever see anything like that before, sarge?"

"No... But then again these _putang ina_ have been full of surprises since day one... Must be one of their infantry, or whatever they use for it. Call it in."

While the radio-man did exactly that, Bautista went over to Navarro's corpse, closing the man's eyes and policing his dog tags, before reaching for the man's grenade launcher. The Milkor MGL was an American made weapon, but it did well for what it would need to do. Making sure that it was loaded, Sergeant Bautista stepped just a few meters away from the hole that the Abyssal 'thing' had crawled out of, only to point the barrel of the weapon down into it. "Fire in the hole!"

The launcher made a FWUMP noise as the round discharged, and bounced into the hole before going off with a KRUMP! Another piece of the road fell downwards, sealing off the tunnel partially as Bautista checked it. "Firing again!" he said, chambering the next round as he backed up on the opposite side in order to close the hole entirely. As he pulled the trigger though the wall behind him erupted as another drill arm blasted outwards, tearing apart stone and wood like tissue paper and sending the sergeant to the ground. The grenade launcher skipped across the rubble as the marine tumbled, and he turned in time to see the Abyssal trooper loom over him with drool dripping from its jaws...

...Only to have multiple bullets spang and spray along its torso, sending the monstrosity back with a screech as the sound of fully automatic fire was heard along with screeching tires. Scrambling on all fours, Bautista put some distance between him and the 'thing' as his squad joined in, peppering the creature with enough lead to double its weight. As the thing fell, legs kicking sporadically while an arm dug itself into the ground after it was severed, the sergeant was pulled to his feet by Guinto.

"You okay sarge?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." he said, letting the woman double-check him before turning to see who his savior was...

And for a moment he thought he'd been hit after all, a head injury maybe given how he was seeing things. In the middle of the street were a pair of what looked like remote control cars, but with little... people inside of them, and a rotary gatling-gun style weapon in the back. He blinked for a moment as he stared, and the driver of one held out a hand in a thumb's up.

"Ooo!" it said cheerfully in a squeaky voice.

"Ooo-rah!" its buddies replied.

By this time Bautista's squad-mates had also spotted their strange rescuers and were looking just as poleaxed. It might have gone on for longer if not for a flight of Abyssal fighters going overhead, their propeller-like noise seemingly galvanizing the miniature soldiers, who set their vehicles in reverse before steering to go after them, little chain-guns chattering as they peeled off shouting "OOO-RAH!"

Bautista turned to match gazes with Guinto before asking the same question. " _Diwata_?"

* * *

Back at the waterfront, Hyuuga wasn't having a good time. As the most powerful ship-girl present, she was drawing a LOT of attention her way from her Abyssal counterparts, and the repeated shellfire was taking its toll. She was already starting to take on water, though her pumps were still active, and her shoulder-mounted turret was holed through and useless to her. She'd run out of torpedoes by this point, but the _Ise_ -class battleship wasn't giving up yet, and she continued to send 14" shells downrange to hit the enemy's battle-line. She'd switched to HE rounds in hopes of causing enough fires to hopefully trigger some ammunition explosions, but only four ships had fallen to her guns that way. Hyuuga was getting tired, but her pride demanded that she not show it.

That didn't mean that she couldn't still send for assistance though. "This is JMSDF battleship _Hyuuga_ to any Allied Fleet assets in the area, Manila is under heavy bombardment and we are requesting immediate assistance, how copy, over?" she said over the radio, sending one more volley as she felt an enemy shell ricochet off her 12" armor belt, denting it and leaving a bruise on her flesh.

 _"This is USS Houston, we're comin' sugah! Don't you worry none! We'll be there in a jiffy, ovah!"_ came the scratchy reply, the American cruiser's accent clear as a bell despite the distortion and distance.

 _"Affirmative, this is USS Maryland along with Task Force West Blue, help is on the way, do not despair."_ The battleship's voice was a lot calmer than her compatriot's, and Hyuuga couldn't help be feel a little more at ease hearing it.

"Understood... We're holding out, but we're going to need a lot of backup soon... AAAAHHHHHH!"

 _"Hyuuga-san, are you alright? Hyuuga, come in!"_

The former IJN Hyuuga's attention however was no longer on the radio, but instead on the sight at her feet. Several pale hands were rising out of the water, clutching at her ankles and shins as glowing blue eyes looked up from over the top of Abyssal scuba gear, their gazes seemingly trying to comfort her as they pulled downward...

Abyssal submarines were considered by the kanmusu to be one of the most terrifying of enemy forces. Not because of their ability to move about beneath the waves and launch torpedo strikes, but because of the function they seemed to serve in the Abyssal's forces. Whenever a shipgirl was damaged or sunk, if they could retrieved they could usually be repaired or healed and brought back to fight again, but Abyssal subs seemed to prioritize scavenging the dead over their other objectives, dragging dead or dying kanmusu into the deeps to do god-knew-what to them. So far no ship-girl taken by them had returned, either on their own or through summoning, and the knowledge that there were subs operating in the area was the subject of more than one nightmare amongst the various fleet-girls.

As a result, it could be forgiven that Hyuuga felt a thrill of panic in her heart at the sight of no less than 8 of the things all grasping at her from the water, and with a shriek the battleship drew the anti-ship katana from her side and started stabbing downwards in an effort to loosen their grasp! She felt her blade bite into flesh and metal, again and again, and two sets of hands let go reluctantly as their owners sank, yet that just left room for more. One of them grasped the blade itself, only to have its palms sliced as Hyuuga pulled the blade back and stabbed again. "Let go...! LET GO OF ME!"

"Hyuuga-san! We're coming!" Tone said, wincing as another heavy shell struck her amidships, causing her to wince and grasp her bleeding stomach.

"Onee-chan?" Chikuma asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"B-boiler hit... I've still got one lit but..." the cruiser choked out.

"H-hai! I'll handle it!" the dark-haired shipgirl said, before steaming towards the beleaguered battleship. "Hang on Hyuuga-san, I'm coming!"

"H-hurryyyyyyy!" she said, as again her sword was caught, this time with a firmer grasp. She was down to her thighs in the water now, the hands pulling at her injuries and widening holes in her hull, causing her to take on more water. In a stroke of bad luck, an enemy shell struck her in the forearm, removing the limb and thus disarming her of her weapon, leaving her defenceless!

"H-HYUUGA-SAN!" Chikuma cried out as she pushed her boilers to the maximum, pumping shells into the water to try and ward away the Abyssal subs, but the creatures just clung to their prey like limpets.

As one of the subs wrapped its arms around the battleship's neck from behind in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace, Hyuuga felt the seawater rising to her chest. Reaching out with her only remaining good hand, she looked into Chikuma's panicked eyes with equal amounts of sheer terror. "H-HELP! CHIKUMA-SAN!"

" **HYUUGA-SAAAAAAN!** " the cruiser said, firing again even as she watched the battleship's head be dragged beneath the waves, her hand thrashing about in the air... only to vanish just as Chikuma dove for it! "Hyuuga-san... No... **NOOOO**!" she said, clawing at the water that acted like solid ground, helpless as her comrade was dragged screaming into the dark...

* * *

Leviathan's gaze was hard as diamond as she maneuvered above the water, her secondary turrets pumping 50mm HE rounds into the carrier in front of her, turning the _Nu_ -class' squid-like body into swiss cheese while a trio of Archers sought out the larger _Wo_ -class to her port side. The latter Abyssal tried to turn bow on to make herself a smaller target, but the missiles' guidance systems just corrected mid-flight and slammed into her in an orgy of fire and metal. Several flights of the Abyssals' fighter-craft were buzzing about trying to get a bead on the spaceship-girl, but the sheer density of her AAA was enough to keep away all but the most dogged, and even those barely managed to scratch her armor with their bombs. She'd lost two of the point defence weapons to lucky shots, and one pod was registering a jammed door, but that was fine. They were easily repaired, and the turrets themselves merely had their barrels misaligned and shredded, so it wasn't like they'd managed to penetrate her defences in truth. Leviathan now had destroyed nearly 40 Abyssal ships, counting both large and small craft, and the rest of the fleet seemed to have pegged her as a priority target now if the density of shellfire coming her way any indication.

Another batch of torpedoes glided uselessly beneath her, the explosives unable to do her harm as she didn't actually displace any water herself, and Leviathan fired a salvo of HE rounds into the cruiser-sized whale/shark/ray/ _thing_ that launched them at her, ripping into its hide and sending gouts of fire and oily blood high into the air before it listed to the side. With that distraction out of the way, the UNSC ship-girl turned towards the rest of the Abyssal fleet, only to spot one that looked rather... angrier than the others. Focusing her scanners on it, Levi saw that this one was nearly completely humanoid, and if she'd had the mentality for it would have had to admit that the pale woman was quite fetching as well... Her porcelain white skin and hair was marred only by what looked like coal dust or smoke-stains around her throat and thighs and arms, though even those were covered with black armored plates that ended in high-heeled boots and taloned fingers, burning red highlights showing through the gaps of the plates. The shredded remains of some kind of old-time sailor's outfit covered the Abyssal's torso only barely, pieces covering her shoulders and breasts while half a skirt kept the woman's modesty covered through sheer luck from the looks of it...

However, the Abyssal also stood upon the armored head of some draconic beast, with a harness behind her reminiscent of wings in the form of two shoulder mounted cannons and twin air-strips extending from her back and down to her waist. The way she was standing suggested that she had been somehow in command of this situation, and was none-too-pleased.

 _[You have caused ENOUGH problems for me,]_ the Abyssal said, and Leviathan could see her lips moving even though the words floated into her mind seemingly without any actual sound. _[I will sink you over... and over... and over again! Know that you die at the hands of a true Princess of the sea! Be wrapped in flames and sink instantly!]_

The seemingly-aptly-named Aircraft Carrier Princess then launched an entire flotilla of fighters up at Leviathan, along with firing her cannons at the cruiser. One shell missed entirely while the other impacted against her right bicep, smoke and flame blossoming along her arm and MAC gun, causing Levi to grimace. However, before she could return fire, the Princess' fighters and bombers rose up screaming at her. Point defence turrets tracked the incoming craft and unleashed their fury, but to Levi's anger that still left plenty of them to make bombing runs along her hide.

More blasts erupted along her superstructure, and she felt a thruster gasp and sputter as it took a direct hit, but cycled back to full function after a moment. "You are starting to annoy me," Leviathan snarled, and focused a full 60 Archers on the Princess. Unfortunately, the hyper-aggressive fighters seemed to be waiting for this... As the missiles began to launch, many of them dropped bombs onto the open hatches, while others moved to shoot down the warheads before they reached their target, even suiciding some of themselves to save their mistress. Between them and the Princess' AAA suite as it opened fire, only 2 of the missiles actually got through, blasting chunks of the Abyssal's outfit and harness away while the Archer pod itself exploded through fratricidal detonations. Grunting in discomfort, Levi glared down through her helmet to the Aircraft Carrier Princess as she rose higher, who returned the glare hatefully, yet also somewhat surprised. "That... is starting to itch..."

The Princess had the gall to laugh at her. _[You're a tough one, aren't you? Did you think you'd win that easily though? How cute... But I've had enough of playing with you! Now, why don't you just...]_

 ** _WHAM!_**

 _[AHHHH!]_ she cried out, this time verbally as well as psychically, as the round from Leviathan's MAC gun blew a hole in her right side that tore off fully half of her harness, and even caused the draconic thing she was standing on to roar in pain. Glowing red fluid, like molten lava, dripped from where the Princess' arm was severed at the elbow and her rib cage shattered. _[You... You...!]_

"As you said... I'm done playing games. You want someone to sink so badly, you can go straight down to the bottom, along with your friends," Leviathan said, racking a charging handle in the side of her weapon to reload the barrel with another slug.

 _[Y... You won't...]_

"Won't... What?" she said harshly, practically hissing the words.

 _[You won't... win... You can't... The Abyss will always... win...]_

Leviathan regarded the bleeding foe for a moment, descending from the height she'd assumed in order to take that shot, bringing herself close enough that the two could have reached out and touched one another. A moment of silence passed between them, before Levi spoke again. "You're right... I'm not going to beat you..."

The Aircraft Carrier Princess laughed. _[Then prepare yourself... For..]_

 _ **"I'M GOING TO FUCKING DEMOLISH YOU!"**_

The jaws on her MAC's barrel separated, mandibles widening as the weapon itself roared in blood-lust, and Leviathan thrust it forwards to slam into the Abyssal's head, teeth embedding itself into her skull and cheekbones as it gnashed and _chewed_! The Princess screamed in agony as it felt like a pair of chainsaws were being used on her face, unable to escape their grip as Leviathan planted a foot on her shoulder and YANKED!

A part of Leviathan felt a sick sort of glee as she felt the Abyssal's head tear from its mount, wrenched away in a spray of burning oil and blood as the body fell, and the beast-thing beneath screamed in pain and rage, furious at the death of its partner. As the flying ship-girl threw away the head it had taken, white hair trailing behind it like a kite's tail, the beast tried to snap its jaws on her legs. The cruiser merely pointed her MAC gun down and fired straight down its throat, causing its roar to become a gurgle as it coughed, a massive hole in its belly. It didn't get to respond further, as with a frosty glare she pulled the trigger again, sending a force equal to more than 10 times of an 18" shell's through the monster's skull, silencing it forevermore...

Turning to face the few remaining Abyssals left, Leviathan's burning gaze noted that there were extras there now... They didn't have the same sort of aquatic-horror-show look as the others though...

* * *

Tenryuu's jaw was practically in the water now. She'd managed to get close enough with her girls to have spotted the enemy leader, only to be stopped by its escorts while it turned to what the flotilla leader had thought to be one of its own kind. THAT had been put to the test upon seeing the two do battle, though for a moment the Japanese kanmusu had wondered why the hostility between them was there.

After seeing the short but bloody battle, Tenryuu would have to admit she felt a little... not intimidated no, CERTAINLY not afraid, but... worried. Not for herself of course, it was because of her girls! A certified bad-ass like herself wasn't afraid of nothing after all, but the girls were another matter! Yeah, that was it, it was seeing her destroyers pale and shaking with fright that was causing her hands to shake on her sword's grip... Anger, and not fear!

I mean sweet Kami on a motorcycle and Buddha in the sidecar, she'd just watched this thing tear an Abyssal Princess apart with her BARE HANDS! Even the other Abyssals seemed to be frozen in fear! Forget the whole 'flying' thing or the fact that apparently Abyssals reward failure with bloody execution, the fact that this one was apparently able to kill her own kind with nothing but brute physical force with barely a _scratch_ meant that they were WAY outclassed here!

She was about to demand that this... ' _Ju_ -class' or whatever they called her, allow her at least the honor of fighting her alone while sending DesDiv 6 away to keep them safe, when the fallen Princess' aircraft made their presence known again by charging aimlessly at everything around, both the fleet-girls and the Abyssals! Bombs and torpedoes flew everywhere, and out of the corner of her one eye Tenryuu saw the _Ju_ -class falling back, guns blazing as she cut down the incoming fighters easily before heading towards Manila, probably to try and finish off the city herself! As the suit-clad cruiser activated her own AA guns to shoot down the rabid aircraft, she cursed beneath her breath.

Gritting her teeth, she looked back at her cute little destroyers, still in shock over what they'd seen. "LOOK ALIVE GIRLS! Just because we've got one strong enemy doesn't mean we're done yet! We gotta stop her first!" she said.

"But... But she...!"

"So... unladylike..."

"Scary...!"

" _Vpechatlyayet_..."

"ENOUGH! Come on, there's still half a fleet here and..."

BOOM!

Another series of explosions came from the north, where several bat-shaped objects soared through the air dropping bombs and missiles. Each one impacted with an Abyssal capital ship while smaller aircraft fired machine guns into the swarms of disoriented fighters trying to stop them, further reducing the enemy fleet to shattered and sinking hulks while the shark-like destroyers swam in frantic circles, cut off from their leaders and thus reduced to mere confused animals.

The planes then turned as one, giving a small waggle of their wings as they passed by before following in the _Ju_ -class' wake. Tenryuu was just able to spot them starting to DOCK with the monster before she realized that they were alone... and the enemy was headed towards their home port! "Shit! Girls, double time it! We have to get back NOW!"

"H-hai!"

* * *

Leviathan felt _Taiha_ flight coming in for refueling and rearming, and her hangers opened up like hatches on her back in order to take the shrinking craft in. Her blood was still cooling from the confrontation, and her hands were shaking from adrenaline... or whatever the hell she had in her coolant lines that acted the same.

"Leviathan, your systems are showing... Our systems suffered some sort of shock back there, are you alright?" Hephaestus asked.

"Not now Heph... I'm fine, just pissed..." she replied, looking ahead to see the rest of her fighters coming in from their CAP to also cycle. "It'll pass... What's the situation on the shore?"

"Reports coming in from pilots and your marines now. Oh... That's not good..."

" _What's_ not good?!" she snarled.

"...They've successfully landed an invasion force..."


	10. Chapter 10: The Battle of Manila, Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Alright, so this past month was hell for me, and that seriously pushed back this chapter. I'm not happy about that, and less happy about putting together such a short chapter by comparison to the last two. But I've got a lot still planned, so I'm giving you guys this to let you know that the story is not dead, and it won't be for a long time! I've got a loooong timeline set up and already have more written for future chapters than I do here... So, yeah, it's not ending anytime soon!

Here's part 2 of the battle, and a scene which I don't think many have tried to do with shipgirls much... urban warfare. If this doesn't make much sense, then I apologize, but then again... I can't say I'm TOO sorry! A lot of google mapping and such was used to get a feel for where these fights were taking place, which is part of why it took so damn long to update. Also, readers may recognize a lot of the names that I use from other works, and while I am trying to make my story original I just find myself to be inspired a LOT by these other works enough that I include them as a sort of 'hats off' to them. If they want me to pull those names and use different ones I shall, but for now, here you are! Again, constructive criticism is MUCH appreciated! Read and Review!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc_  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Leviathan looked down at the shore as she flew overhead, her rear fangs scraping against one another and drawing blood from her cheeks as she grew angrier at the sight below. Black, oil-covered... things... were crawling out of the waves onto the sand, half-flopping and half-crawling until they got their bearings before grouping together in rough units. These units then started moving inland like a bunch of demented leapfrogs, carrying assorted weapons in their arms. Some had what looked like barnacle encrusted rifles, others had blades or claw-like protrusions alongside pistol-like weapons. Yet others had weapons seemingly 'built into them' in such a way that made her plating crawl... and all of them were heading inland from the southern harbor.

The cruiser opened a comm-line to the Marine teams that she'd sent out as roving AA pickets, mentally sorting through the frequencies going on around her to find the thread of their radios in hopes that they were still operational. "Leviathan to ground teams, come in ground teams. Again, this is Leviathan Actual calling ground teams, all units check in."

 _"Ooo!"_ came back one of the teams over the radio fuzzily. _"Oo, oo ra! Ra!"_

"Say again Lieutenant? Radio's breaking up," she said. The cruiser was getting IFF and health monitor pings from her sensors saying that all of the gremlins she'd sent out were still alive, although one had a slight concussion, but the detonations from ordinance as well as all the other radio fuzz were causing hell with the airwaves, along with some kind of jamming that her systems were having issues with. As Levi got closer it was clearing up, but it was still hell...

 _"Ooo, oo! Oo-oo-rah! Ra-rah-oo!"_ came the soldier's voice again.

"Roger that Lieutenant, shoreline forces have been dealt with, I am taking over-watch above the city. Call out targets for ground strikes as needed. Hammer and Anvil teams are standing by to reinforce..."

Leviathan felt something explode against her hull, causing her to look down at where an surface-launched rocket had failed to penetrate her armor, causing her to frown. There'd been no radar or laser based targeting that her sensors had registered, which meant that was either an unguided rocket or something else, but it had slipped past her nonetheless. Growling, she lifted her left arm and pointed her clenched fist at the group of 'soldiers' that had aimed at her, the point defence cannons on her elbow and wrist swiveling to target the Abyssal group before unleashing hell on them with a side-order of tracers. The explosive shells detonated amongst the things, sending black metal and chitin up into the air and ripping craters in the concrete beneath them.

Her eyes flicked over the area again, and she noted a distinct lack of resistance from 'friendly' forces. There was some coming from the remains of the naval armory near the port, but it was fading fast, which meant that the entire waterfront was effectively enemy territory. Feeling that some sanitization would do some good, Leviathan raised both her arms in front of her like a boxer, hatches running along the raised plating of her forearms popping open to let fly four Archers at the sea of black and grey beneath her...

* * *

Tenryuu saw the explosions coming from the shoreline from out on the water, gritting her teeth as she could only imagine what was going on over there. "Come on girls, put your screws into it!"

The others were already doing just that, panting hard to get as much oxygen and ventiliation to their engine rooms as possible as they made flank speed back towards Manila. Around them they could see the burning oil slicks of Abyssal ships, some by their own hands as they had driven a wedge through the enemy towards their leader, but most were downed by that flying Abyssal that had shown up. Off their bow and limping to port, they could see the form of the _BRP Simeon Castro_ fishing sailors out of the water from the stricken _BRP Gregorio del Pilar_. The Japanese ship _JS Ōnami_ was also burning just behind and to the starboard of their position, but its single Otobreda 127 mm/54 gun was still barking in defiance in support of the Philippine ship _Artemio Ricarte_ as they put holes below the waterline of an Abyssal destroyer that had already lost its cannon and torpedoes. As they continued on though, another sight caught their eyes...

"Chikuma... Chikuma-nee... Get up, please!" Tone was trying to pull her sister away from where she'd stopped, kneeling on the water in hysterics despite the enemy forces having been depleted in the area.

"Hyuuga-san... She... She's still down there! We can't... She..." the shipgirl said as she clawed at the water's surface.

"Chikuma!"

"HEY! What are you two idiots doing?! The fight's over THERE!" Tenryuu shouted as she pointed at the shore.

"It's Chikuma, she won't leave!" Tone said pleadingly.

"Why the _fuck_ not?!"

"She said Hyuuga got pulled down here!"

The light cruiser pulled up alongside the two kanmusu, leaning over to look at Chikuma's face. "What do you mean 'got pulled down'?"

"The... They took her... They took Hyuuga-san..." Chikuma said, breath rattling as her fingers curled into fists in the water, as though trying to pull it away to get beneath its surface. "We... We have to get her back, we..."

"Hey... Hey hey hey hey, easy now..." Tenryuu said, grabbing the other cruiser's shoulder. "What happened?"

The green-clad woman sniffled as she seemed to register Tenryuu's presence for the first time, her grey eyes clouded with tears and seemingly having trouble focusing. "S-subs... Abyssal subs... They dragged her down... Hyuuga-san was fighting them and... I tried to get to her..."

Tenryuu heard a hissed intake of breath from behind her as DesDiv 6 crowded around them, and the one-eyed woman cursed under her breath. "Damnit... Alright, look, we'll come back for her later, but right now we're needed back at base."

"Bu-but she...!"

"They took her alive, right? RIGHT?!" Tenryuu asked with a shout.

"H-hai!"

"Then likely she'll still be alive when we come back for her! The Americans are on their way already, we'll have them track the bitches down to where they took her. I doubt Hyuuga would go down without a fight after all, there'll be a trail..."

Inwardly Tenryuu knew that the chances of that were actually quite slim. They'd never recovered anyone taken before, at least that she'd ever heard of. It was a terrifying fate to think about, but there was still a chance that it might be true... And it didn't change the fact that they all needed to work together now. Looking back at her destroyers, she gave a cocky grin.

"Alright you slackers, listen up! We'll take the north port into shore and try to move inland from there. Chances are that the Abyssals all went after the south port and the river, but given how that Ju-class is breathing fire like a dragon right now they'll probably be too busy focusing on her to notice us in the north. We'll hook up with whomever we can and then counter-attack!"

* * *

Nagato hissed to herself as she watched the events play out on the monitor. Though it was happening so far away, Yokosuka Base wasn't turning a blind eye to events going on in the Philippines. Indeed, she even had a C-5 already bringing JGSDF troops and a handful of girls to the scene. Tatsuta had complained that her sister was 'off having fun without her', but the battleship knew that the chuunibyou was simply worried for Tenryuu. The falsely angelic cruiser may have had a jealous streak in regards to her sister a mile long, but nothing could ever keep them from backing each other up when the chips were down, and that meant that it was absolutely chafing to Tatsuta to have to continue her own escort operation.

That left the senior staff, however, with an uninterrupted view of what was going on from a distance via the overhead satellites. Cloud cover was still pretty bad over most of the sea area, but with the Abyssals' offshore fleet in shambles or sinking to the deeps the actual fighting was visible in the city. Nagato's eyes narrowed as she watched DesDiv 6 and the Tone sisters moving into the port and began trading fire with Abyssal shore-forces, tearing into the erstwhile infantry like a knife through flesh. The steel-hulled ships were regrouping, rescue operations still underway, but the real excitement was going on over the southern port.

"Mutsu, get the Intelligence officers on this immediately. See if you can get one of them approved through OPSEC and then in here to watch this. I want their opinions as soon as they can," she said, causing her sister to race for the phone. On the screen, flames and blast waves erupted from where the unknown _Ju_ -class was pounding the Abyssal landing forces, their return fire seeming to wash off of her like morning fog as her cannons ripped craters into the ground and sent shrapnel splinters throughout the area. Nagato did NOT envy whatever poor bastard would be in charge of cleaning it all up afterwards, but her focus was taken up by more immediate concerns.

Like how the Abyssal was flying. No Abyssal had shown to be able to launch themselves into the air unless they were fighter and bomber craft, and those had NONE of the firepower that this one was showing. Between her multitude of guns, seemingly as light a caliber as she had thought but with a FAR faster firing rate than she'd ever expected and in greater numbers, and the guided missiles that she was using more sparingly, it made Nagato wonder if this wasn't some kind of new design the enemy had cooked up that had, for one reason or another, gone AWOL on them. It wouldn't be the first time that the Abyssal tried to experiment. In the years of the war, they'd seen several attempts by their aquatic foes to try and create things that had never been thought up by human hands, and even more in this very fight itself... An infantry force, no matter how oddly designed, was still something that had only been hinted at in prior conflicts, and had been relegated as a sort of attempt at the Abyssals using their own former crews as shore parties.

The idea still made Nagato shudder. There had always been a net of mystery surrounding the tiny humanoids that were often referred to as fairies (which got more than one chuckle out of the American forces on more than one occasion), and with the Abyssals showing a similar sort of shadow-fairy it had caused more than a few questions. For the sake of drawing a line between them, Kanmusu and the humans who worked with them referred to the Abyssal crews as 'Imps' instead of 'Faeries', allowing PR and Intelligence divisions a means of further demonizing their foes. It may have seemed like a cold-hearted response, but it was preferable to increased riots over the nature of ship-girls in general, along with all the new theories and realities that they brought.

And now, there was another to add to the list. The _Ju_ -class was letting up on her bombardment now, seemingly coming down to land in the ruins of a church (San Augustin from the monitor's mini-map, thank you to whoever attached Google Maps to the system), and as Nagato watched a pair of small aircraft lifted off from her back to head further into the city. She'd seen a few of the fighter craft that were following the _Ju_ -class, but it still made her worried. A light carrier with the armament of a modern cruiser, if not better, and the ability to fly, all made for a mobile and well-armed package. If the Abyssals fielded more of these types, they would be in trouble...

But that then begged the question: Why was THIS Abyssal firing on its own forces? Was it confused, or was there some kind of schism going on amidst their enemy? No doubt the politicians and Intel committees would LOVE that, especially if they could figure out a means of creating more such conflicts amidst the enemy. Hell, she was willing to bet the Imperial seal on her gorget that the Americans would jump on it in a heartbeat, given their usage of similar tactics before the Abyssal war in nearly EVERY theater they'd been in.

"Nagato-nee, we've got Chief Parker coming up here soon. He'll be up in five minutes," Mutsu said as she hung up.

" _Yokatta_... Keep Admirals Goto and Yashiro appraised of the situation as well, but don't neglect our other operations," Nagato replied with a nod, not removing her gaze from where the _Ju_ -class was now moving between buildings on the ground.

"Hai! And the others?"

"The rest of the Admiralty will likely know already or are being informed by their own secretaries. No need for us to go stepping on toes Mutsu-chan."

* * *

Sergeant Bautista cursed as he felt a piece of concrete skip off his helmet as an Abyssal trooper fired at him, and the big man pushed his carbine out from behind the sandbags and flower-pots he had been taking cover behind to blind-fire in return, attempting to force the thing shooting at him to keep its head down. Guinto was patching up another marine who'd been struck in the upper chest, slapping a disinfectant patch over the burnt and bleeding hole in the man's shoulder. The worst thing about these 'infantry' was that it seemed that they liked to coat their ammunition in some sort of toxin that burned as it got into the wound. Even with the bandage on him the wounded trooper was gritting his teeth harder and harder in an effort not to scream as the toxin went into his bloodstream. Flores was doing a good job of taking his time to pick his shots, each burst leaving a tight grouping of holes in the softer chitin of their enemies' armor and causing them to fall back or fall down.

The silver lining in all this mess however was that stupid little RC car that had shown up earlier. Despite all sense and logic, the bullets that the tiny little chaingun on its back was spraying out were hitting with the force of an autocannon, tearing into Abyssals and cover alike whenever it swept their way, scything through flesh, bone and steel equally. The little hoots and hollers of its pint-size crew only added to the surrealness of it all when people saw the Abyssals reacting to it in no different a manner than they did the Marines themselves. Bautista had a fleeting thought that he might be hallucinating the whole thing, but if it kept his people alive then the little hallucinations could have a tea party with the Fairy Queen for all he cared, so long as the bullets kept going down-stream.

About three blocks behind them there were wounded civilians being carted off on stretchers towards Tanduay Fire Sub Station, where the handball courts were being used as a field hospital before being further taken to Mary Chiles hospital and the evacuation centers for better treatment, while those that could walk were hobbling around behind those too hurt to move on their own. Every so often another bunch would come up the straight-away via the Ayala bridge with Cthulu-style horrors nipping at their heels, and the marines would have to simultaneously beat them back while protecting the civilians. More than one civvie simply dropped to the ground as bullets starting going past them, while others continued to try and crawl or run forwards. The ones who were too slow or who froze up in terror were mercilessly cut down by the foe, butchered like animals by creatures little better than that. No, worse, since animals would only kill to eat or defend territory, not for the sheer joy of it...

Another explosion came as a shell pierced the corner building of the Department of Budget and Management, showering them with yet more debris as something within the crowd of horrors took offence to their continued resistance. The REAL threat in this section came from the Isla de Convalencia, a small island in the middle of the river that the Abyssals were using to set up some kind of artillery in the form of one or more of their more humanoid ships. These women moved like titans amongst the lessers of their kind, even if they were only light cruisers or destroyers, for they carried the firepower of an armored column and could break a defensive line easily if they rushed. The Intramuros area was already in enemy hands, as were Ermita, San Nicolas, Malate, Binondo and Paco, with Quiapo, Sta. Cruz and Tondo remained as contested. The marines and Philippino metro police were holding a line along San Miguel, despite the constant assaults from the river. They hadn't received any orders yet to blow the Ayala bridge, but if no more of their own people came across then Bautista figured it only a matter of time before they had to cut their losses...

Another explosion occurred, this time followed by three smaller ones. Spitting out a curse he growled to the others. "They're getting ready to push! Heads down, then get ready to pop up once the fireworks stop! They'll swarm us if we let them!" A chorus of affirmatives were drowned out by more explosions, and he had only a moment to notice one of the little cars trucking it through the smashed-glass of the furniture store Saver's Place across the road to keep from being out in the open. 'Good on him,' Bautista thought to himself, as it meant that even magical hallucinations knew to take cover when the rain turned to lead.

Three horrifying minutes passed as the area was shelled, and Bautista could practically smell the horde forming behind their artillery's cover fire, the smell of something fundamentally WRONG with them curling the hairs on his big arms as he checked over his weapon again and prayed. The explosions weren't quite big enough to be true artillery, some of it seemed more like grenade launchers or mortars, though there was enough of the larger ship-based shells going around to make them sit tight. When the shells stopped falling, the Abyssals let loose a long, wailing warcry that was like the screaming of the damned, inviting their fellows to join them as they surged forward.

"Give them hell boys!" the sergeant said, peeking out from cover to spray fire into the mass of enemy forces barrelling their way down the steel-truss bridge towards them, having used the majority of the shelling to cross it. A part of the marine's mind wondered why they didn't just swarm up from the waterline itself, but it was unlikely he'd live long enough for it to matter, so he put it out of mind. Guinto and Flores were already joining him, along with a few of the other squads that were alongside them. The _BRATATATATATATATA_ of machine guns chattered as they poked out of the buildings their crews had taken cover in and hadn't been devastated by the shelling, while mortar teams further back started loading their own counter-fire to hit the bridge as a whole.

Fire and brimstone rained down in the form of shaped charge explosives and fragmentation rounds, along with a hailstorm of bullets that tore into the horde like they were running into a sandblaster. Yet for all the firepower being brought to bear, it only seemed to anger the Abyssals more. Every one they dropped was replaced by another, and while they WERE going down it wasn't going to be long before they moved up the heavy hitters. "Keep those ammo runners moving! We have to hold them here at the choke point or these bastards will overrun us!"

Another thirty minutes was spent fighting off wave after wave of Lovecraftian nightmares that Bautista KNEW he was going to have nightmares about, before a second round of shelling from the small island in the river pounded at them again. Two machine gun nests were obliterated in the exchange, as well as a squad's worth of men that had been caught out in the open. When the bombardment stopped, the marines immediately got back to work trying to reestablish their wall of fire, but it seemed that their luck had run out.

This time the first ones across were something like the destroyer ships from out at sea, shark-like monsters with gaping jaws and glowing eyes with guns protruding from between jagged teeth, only these monsters had a series of legs like a demented combination of crab and dog as they ambled forward, smashing pieces of cover with cannonfire as they moved ahead of the infantry. Flores booked it across the street in order to avoid getting blown up, with Guinto throwing a man over her shoulders as she followed on his heels. The sergeant followed them as they made to fall back into the furniture store, the little RC jeep driving backwards as its little gatling gun fired at the armored bastards in controlled streams that seemed to bite on occasion, but didn't do nearly enough damage to stop them. A cannon shell brought down the sign above the shop just as they all got inside, covering the entrance in dust and debris as the four humans, along with the attending fairy machine, kept going down the hall of the building to find the back exit.

Ramming it with his shoulder, Bautista gave a quick check to make sure the area was clear before waving the others forward, Dizzy moving up first to provide extra cover while Guinto hauled her patient along and the green-painted jeep-thing drove around her ankles to get into the clear and book it straight down the alleyway. Sadly for it, this turned out to be a mistake, as a cannonshell detonated right in front of it, sending the little machine flying and its crew scattered along the ground. As Bautista looked back, he saw something that caused his blood to freeze...

Standing in front of the alley wasn't an enemy infantryman, or even one of the destroyer things. This was one he hadn't seen before personally, but the more humanoid body was undeniable, even with the mask it wore over its face that only revealed one glowing eye and ragged hair. Intel had made a solid lead that the more humanoid an Abyssal was, the more powerful they tended to be. Given that this one looked almost human except for the post-apocalyptic armor and the cannon mounted on its arm, Bautista was willing to bet this was at least a cruiser... And it was staring straight at them.

Immediately they all started firing as they backed away, bullets deflecting and sparking off the Abyssal's skin and armor as it trudged after them, looking for all the world like a lineman who just spotted a lone quarterback in the open... Flores and Bautista were both firing in bursts as they fell back, but Guinto was having trouble and as a result was letting her frustration get to her. She swore in her father's native tongue as she added her own fire to the mix.

 _"Mira, PU-tos!"_ Crack, crack, crack! _"¡Sus hijos de cien-mil putas!"_ Crack, crack, crack! _"¡Andan por las conchas de sus madres y caen muertos!"_ Crack, crack, crack! _"¡Toma esta flecha maricón!"_ Crack, crack, crack! _"¡Sus mamas no tienen conchas, cabrónes!"_ Crack, crack, CLICK! This last sound caused the tirade to stop, and the medic let her carbine fall to hang by its strap as she went to haul ass along with the others, only to screech to a stop at the end of the alleyway. The horde had moved faster once the initial defence of the bridge had fallen, and so now had the block flooded with bodies as a group of them turned to face her.

Before Guinto could move though, her squadmates both went flying into her back, as they were all picked up bodily and flung through the air by a single shot from the Abyssal cruiser that was following them, landing in the middle of the street. Rolling onto his back, Sgt Bautista lamented for a mere second that his last moments were going to be in the middle of a bloody market, but scoffed at himself as he tried to stand, the cruiser stalking forward out of the alleyway towards them. If he was going to die, he'd die on his feet. Pulling his knife and pistol out, he fired a handful of rounds at the pale-skinned woman, who merely ignored it in favor of getting closer. _'It must not want to waste the ammo...'_ he thought to himself, as he gritted his teeth to charge.

...Only to blink as the cruiser stumbled, a small explosion going off on its back. Stumbling, the cruiser then turned around to see what had attacked it. Running forward on little legs, a lone green-clad spirit was hustling it double-time towards the beleaguered marines, his helmet and rifle a little oversized for something his size, yet nonetheless seemingly radiating defiance. As the micro-marine came within spitting distance, it looked up at the Abyssal with a scrunched up expression of disgust on its face as it pointed its little rifle up.

"OOO! OO OO RAH!" it said, thrusting the little weapon up as though threatening the cruiser despite the sheer difference in size. For a moment, even the Abyssals seemed to be confused, the grey metal/coral mask of the cruiser turning to give its one eye-piece a better view of the thing that was squawking at it... And then seemed to snort before lifting her armored boot. The little marine had only a brief moment to hold down his trigger and spray the Abyssal with little bits of lead, before a quiet _CRUNCH_ ended its existence.

Grinding her foot into the remains of the strange fairy, the Abyssal then turned back to its normal prey. Flores was still trying to reload his carbine with one arm, the other visibly shattered, and Guinto was using her body to shield their yet unknown fourth, leaving only Bautista to face off against the enemy ship. Steeling himself to die once more, Angelo gritted his teeth and shifted the knife into an underhanded position, pulling back the arm to jab forward as soon as it got in range.

The Abyssal seemed willing to humor him too... It crouched down as if getting ready for a fight, cannon arm low and back ready to hit like a hammer as it stalked forward, and with a cry the sergeant darted in, slamming the blade forward to try and sever something within the Abyssal's neck and hopefully do some damage. The blade skittered off the side of the cruiser's mask as his wrist was caught in her free hand, and the she-witch used her cannon to ram Bautista's gut up into his ribcage, causing him to expel all the breath from his lungs before biting back a scream as his opponent casually crushed his arm between her fingers. One kick is all it took to throw him back into his comrades, knocking Flores' weapon from his hand after he'd finally reloaded it. With heaving breaths Bautista looked up to see the cruiser leveling her cannon arm at them, ready to finish them off...

Angelo had enough time to see the rifling in the cannon's barrel, to practically see the shell that would have ended his life and his comrades, before the Abyssal just seemed to come apart at the seams, round after round of tracer-like fire slamming into her and causing small explosions as they ripped her apart, pieces of flesh and metal mixing with rancid oil and blood as they flew away from their previous owner, leaving a pair of mutilated legs and bits of torso to fall to the ground. Head snapping to the side, Bautista saw something moving through the smoke, heavy thumps coming as something walked towards them.

This time the creature that stepped forth looked like someone had taken an Abyssal and given it a suit of power armor, or maybe one of the exo-loaders from _Aliens_... Black armor plating covering grey joints, turrets moving independently on its limbs as it stomped forward on massive, reinforced legs, torso wrapped in a thick plate that was both armor and harness. Even the toothy, shark-like grin on its head... No, TWO heads, if the one on that side cannon was an indication, screamed Abyssal... Yet it wasn't looking at the humans...

* * *

Leviathan gritted her teeth in rage. This whole fight she'd been feeling her aggression growing, and a part of her was getting worried about it, even though it was turning out to be useful. The sight before her now though would have gotten her furious even before that however. Four marines shoved into a pile for a battlefield execution by an inhuman enemy... It made her coolant lines boil and her reactor flare up, yet she'd been too far to be able to get an accurate shot in without hitting the marines.

And then her own marine... That beautifully defiant little bastard of a gremlin, had taken its one grenade and tried to get the attention of the enemy commander. He'd even succeeded too, letting Levi get closer to actually be able to see it with her own eyes... Just as the bitch went and stomped on him like a bug. In the corner of her HUD, one of the health monitors had flat-lined instantly, and the _Marathon_ -class cruiser's vision had gone red. She'd tromped up further as the human engaged his enemy, fouling her chance to get a shot in yet again, until he was thrown off by the Abyssal.

Finally, she'd had a clear shot, and she'd taken it instantly, sending a long stream of HE rounds from her turrets into the Abyssal and turning her into swiss cheese. The whole battle had seemingly frozen as she stepped forward, marching up to where the enemy cruiser had been, before leaning down. There, on the ground, were the squashed, almost liquefied remains of her gremlin. With greater care than one might have thought her capable of, Leviathan scooped up the remains of the tiny soldier, his armor and weapon shattered and helmet caved in, and brought it up to her torso, letting a corpsman take the body and bring it aboard... He'd get the burial he deserved.

... But not until after she gave the enemy one THEY deserved! Turning to the horde around them, who were starting to get restless now and edging forward, Levi brought both arms up to point 20 of her cannon turrets towards them along her limbs, waist, shoulders and legs. Her eyes, glowing with righteous fury, landed on the human who was staring up at her.

"Stay down..." she said, before opening fire and unleashing hell upon their nightmarish foe...


	11. Chapter 11: The Battle of Manila, Part 3

Author's Note:  
Here's part 3 of the battle, and a little bit for the fans out there, if you can catch it! And a shout out to another fic that inspired this one! I REALLY wanted to finish this arc with this chapter, but the thing just keeps writing itself and adding more. So I figured to hell with it, you guys have been waiting for a month, so I'll give you this so far and then finish it off next chapter! Besides, this chapter officially hit more than 10,000 words this time! Also, I know that there's going to be parts that will cause people to cringe, you have been warned! Also, more language! Again, constructive criticism is MUCH appreciated! Read and Review!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc_  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Corpsman Isabella Guinto was no stranger to carnage, especially by this point. Med-school sort of did away with any of the normal squeamish types when it came to bodies in various states of repair, both living and dead, and the Abyssal war was bringing in all kinds of new horrors each day. Nonetheless, it still shocked her how quickly a group of healthy, fit individuals could be reduced to so many piles of meat and bone in such a short amount of time. Doubly so when said meat and bone was mixed in with broken metal...

As the giant Abyssal opened up with her guns, Guinto had thought it was all over for her and her squad, yet as she dove to cover her squadmates with her own body there was no pain, no sense of agony or even the cold chill of shock that came from getting hit somewhere vital. Instead there was just a strange thunder as explosions echoed with the sounds of armor penetrations, the shrieks of monsters and women as they were torn apart buffeting off the cracked walls of the buildings around them, only to leave broken and burning remains behind. A shark-like monster was holed through with explosions occurring internally, causing gouts of blood and burning oil to spurt out along with flesh and steel, while infantry-scale Abyssals were simply ripped apart. Another cruiser tried to move side-on to the attacker's guns, causing a few to skip off, but the majority still tore into her as well, and eventually she wilted under the barrage, falling to the ground like a puppet without its strings. More and more fire swept through the street, while return fire seemed to merely annoy the large Abyssal, blasts flowing over her body while other shells and bullets simply ricocheted off of her. Shrapnel slivers peppered the area, and underneath her Isabella felt more than heard Dizzy take a set of such slivers into the meat of his calves, while another set caught her in the shoulder and bicep, feeling like burning embers driven beneath her skin.

A sort of light humming noise keened through the air as the guns stopped firing after a few more bursts, each little turret on the armored Abyssal's arms tracking for movement or more amongst the debris of the shattered street... Yet only bits of falling concrete answered. Seemingly satisfied with the carnage she'd wrought, the attacker lowered her arms before looking down at the marines. Stepping towards them, metallic boots crunching the broken pavement and concrete, the creature crouched down to look at the four of them through a silvered faceplate that reflected Isabella's gritted-toothed face back at her.

"Are you alright soldier?" the being asked in slightly accented Filipino.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!_ came the sound of a sidearm firing into said being's face, the rounds plinking off the reflective visor while its wearer barely flinched. Eventually Isabella's pistol ran dry though, the slide locked in place as the marine gave a sigh of regret.

"I'll take that as a yes," the Abyssal said with a half-amused-half-resigned tone. Ignoring the harmless gun in her face, the woman then looked at the the medic's squadmates. "We need to get you all into cover. They're going to figure out pretty quick that their advance has stalled here, and the artillery will open up again."

Guinto looked up in confusion. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Did they teach you to question the woman saving your ass back in boot camp, or did they teach you to get your squad out of harm's way when you had the chance?" the Abyssal responded sarcastically, reaching to pick up a still-dazed Bautista. Given the situation at hand, Isabella found herself having to swallow the acidic bile that she wanted to retort with, forced to admit that she really wasn't in a position to argue something that was, in essence, counter-productive. Taking Flores and the still-yet unnamed soldier she'd fished out of the artillery zone by the straps of their plate carriers, Guinto began to haul them off towards the JC Lucky 99 shop that she saw down the alleyway. There was a school just across from it, thankfully empty given the hour, but given how it was already a crater that didn't give much comfort for their current situation.

Setting Dizzy against a wall where he continued to cradle his arm, Guinto began to bind his shrapnel-filled legs to keep him from bleeding out. They were oozing fairly steadily, but nothing gushed, so she figured he'd live. She was looking over their last tag-along, a Corporal Reyes, when she noticed the... The medic guessed that she couldn't rightly call it an Abyssal given how it wasn't killing them, so she mentally switched to the term ship-girl... was using a piece of debris to make a pair of splints for Bautista and Flores.

"So, what do we call you then? You got a name?" Guinto asked.

"Leviathan. UNSC CA-684," the woman replied, voice still coming out kind of echoed due to her helmet.

"...Really? Kind of a mouthful, you know?" the medic said, taping a dressing over a series of gashes on Reyes' thigh beneath his BDU's.

"Call me Levi then. How about you?"

"Guinto. That's Dizzy Flores there, and this useless lump apparently goes by Reyes, if he ever wakes up," she said, patting the still unconscious marine on the helmet. "And our ever-so-fearless leader there's Sergeant Bautista."

"Good to meet you all. Things have been rather hectic, and the only one I've been able to raise on the radio was a panicked flight controller for the civilian airport."

"Hectic? That's a word for it... Sarge, you still with us there?" Guinto asked as she looked at their as-yet-silent squad lead.

The man moved his head to give the medic a look. "Yeah I'm here. And thanks by the way. Not to sound unappreciative, but what exactly are you doing here? You're obviously not with those Abyssals, given how you shot the shit out of them, but you don't exactly look like anyone I've ever seen... You one of those Japanese ship-girls? Or the American ones?"

"Neither, though you're right about me not being on the Abyssals' side."

"Then who are you with?" he asked carefully.

"As I said, UNSC, United Nations."

Bautista blinked at that. "Really? Thought all you ship-girls were from World War 2 era or earlier?"

The woman's helmet turned towards him, tilting a bit. "Hadn't heard that... Good to know though. You met any others?" she asked, only to get interrupted by the sound of an incoming shell as it blew up a block or so away. The flash still lit up the area, and Leviathan braced herself against the wall, using the bulk from her armored back to shield the others from the storefront. As the explosions kept on going, she turned back to Bautista, raising her voice to be heard over the din. "AS I WAS SAYING, YOU MET ANY OTHER SHIPS AROUND HERE?"

"NO, NOT PERSONALLY! THERE WERE A BUNCH ON THE COAST, BUT THAT'S WHERE ALL THIS SHIT STARTED! DIDN'T YOU SEE 'EM THERE?" Angelo replied.

"MAYBE... COULDN'T TELL YOU IF I DID! TOO BUSY SHOOTING AT THE ONES SHELLING THE SHORELINE!" Levi replied.

"THERE ANY REINFORCEMENTS COMING THEN?" Dizzy called out as he grabbed his weapon with his good hand, bracing it against his shoulder with the tip in the general direction of the shop's windows and door.

"IF YOUR COMMAND IS ON THE BALL AT ALL THERE SHOULD BE! WE GOTTA SHUT DOWN THAT ARTILLERY THOUGH BEFORE IT GETS FURTHER INTO THE CITY!" Levi said. "SERGEANT!"

"WHAT?" Bautista asked.

"NOT YOU! YOU!"

"HUH?"

"OOO!"

Bautista only now seemed to notice the little green figure that was hovering around the ship-girl's leg, seemingly identical to the one that he'd seen get squashed, with an extra set of chevrons on his tiny little sleeve. Behind him was yet another, though this one was packing something that looked like a set of pipes on a shoulder-mount... A rocket launcher?

"STAY HERE WITH THESE GUYS! I'LL BE BACK BEFORE LONG!" Leviathan said, which made the miniature marines salute her with another cry of "OOOO-RAH!" before the black-clad woman made for the door.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU WANT TO GET BLOWN UP OR SOMETHING?" Dizzy shouted.

"THIS IS NOTHING! I'LL BE BACK SOON! IF BACKUP COMES, TELL THEM TO HEAD TO THAT ISLAND!" Levi responded, before ducking out of the shop.

Which left just the four, no, six of them to wait out the bombardment. Looking down at his feet, Bautista watched the two leprechaun-like soldiers take up positions where they could, the sergeant tucking in behind a couple bags of flour nearby and the one with the tube-launcher climbing up on top of the cashier's desk.

"So... Since we're stuck here, you want to tell me where you came from?" Bautista said to the tiny sergeant.

"Ooo!" it replied, which surprised the human by actually making some sort of sense. That or the one it jerked a miniature thumb towards the departed shipgirl was just that obvious.

"With her? She just dropped you off?"

"Ooo oo!" it replied, shaking its head. "Rah rah oo!"

"Warthog? What the hell's a warthog?"

"Oo!"

"The jeep thing?" Bautista said with a raised brow. "Why the hell would you call it a warthog? Why not call it a..."

"OORAHRAHRAHRAHOOO-OOO-OOORAHOORAHRAHOO...!" The fairy-dwarf thing suddenly started shouting what were no doubt expletives and curses at him, causing the marine to stare at the leprechaun soldier incredulously as the cursing turned to muttered grumbles and growls which seemed to only make the tiny figure resemble a little ball of hate and teeth than a soldier. Obviously this was not the first time it had been asked that, and Sergeant Bautista made a mental note to NEVER ask that question again... or to let anyone else for that matter...

* * *

Leviathan made her way through the streets back towards the bridge that the marines she'd rescued had been defending, detonations still going on around her, though her armor shrugged off the majority of it. Splinters still ricocheted off of her, and a rather close one rocked her on her feet, but the heavy cruiser managed to bull her way through it. The wreck of her warthog was noone to be seen, likely further destroyed by a shell, and Leviathan was tempted to sigh. At least most of her troopers were alive... A few elsewhere in the city were registering some wounds, including that rocket-trooper she'd left behind according to the medical transponder. 'Little shit probably thought he was too tough to tell me, hehe,' she thought, turning the corner to spot the bridge itself.

Taking a moment to scan the area, she spotted two crippled Abyssals that must have survived her earlier attack on them trying to crawl off, and two quick bursts of her turrets later gave them a tungsten-fueled mercy. With that out of the way, Leviathan then scanned the bridge proper. "Okay, a couple of braces, suspension style bridge... This should be easy," she thought to herself, taking out the shoulder-mounted cannon she'd used prior. "Alright my lovelies, fly for me, hmm?"

A small boom later and a pair of Pelicans materialized from the shell that was launched, each little aircraft making their way to the far and middle sides of the bridge with demolition teams on board. Knowing that they'd do their job well, Leviathan then stepped out to make her way across the near side of the bridge towards the Isla de Convalencia...

...And promptly ate a shell that had been aimed straight at her, rocking her head sideways and causing her to stumble back. Shaking the ringing noise from her head, she looked up to see a shark-like destroyer poking its snout out a window of the island, nearly hidden by all the trees covering it in the pre-dawn twilight. Leviathan felt her anger come to the fore again, and retaliated with a quick burst of fire from her turrets that lit up the area. This time her aim was off however, and the Abyssal was able to duck back into cover for a moment, literally coughing up a wall of smoke in the way to try and blind her sensors. It was something that the buildings around it did far better job at, but no doubt the thing's instincts were first based on its watery home and not on land.

"Grrrrrrr... Just you wait you little piece of shit, I'm coming for you..." she growled out to herself, and mentally pinged her radio to get her Pelicans' attention. "Once you guys are done setting charges I want eyes on that island. Relay visuals on any hostiles, but stay low and disengage if targeted."

Her orders given and acknowledged by the fairy pilots, ' _And just WHY does that seem a natural way to term the navy ones and NOT the marines or Helljumpers_?' she wondered, Leviathan began sprinting across the bridge, asphalt and concrete crumbling beneath her boots as she booked it. No doubt that destroyer was already alerting its buddies that they were going to have company, or it was if it had any brains at all, so that meant that she had a limited amount of time before they rolled out a welcome wagon.

* * *

Tenryuu cursed as another chunk of building was turned into powder and scrap above her, causing her to shield herself with her sword-arm while her guns were reloading. Using them here was a bit overkill, but it was still better than letting yourself get caught unprepared by a 5 inch shell or larger in such tight quarters. It was harder to tell at a glance whether an Abyssal was ship-based or infantry-based, and better to use the overwhelming firepower of her cannons on the trash than to use less and find oneself wanting when up against something tougher. The girls were in actually better shape than she was, being able to take better advantage of cover due to their smaller size, and were putting out one hell of a wall of lead.

"Akatsuki! Hibiki! Hit those ones on the corner! See if you can flank them when we push up!" she called out.

"Hai!" the purple-haired destroyer answered for the both of them as they took off, Hibiki giving some cover-fire for as they passed blasted out parts of the block.

If there was one thing that all of DesDiv6 could agree on right now, it was that city-fighting _sucked_! With capital letters even! And no doubt if she were any less a lady-to-be, Akatsuki would have even admitted that there were some spherical attachments to add to that statement! The environment was way too cluttered, cramped, and filled with the sorts of smells one would find in cramped bunks if they weren't cleaned more than once day! Then again, the bodies kept any complaints from crossing the little destroyer's lips. People who'd been caught by surprise by the bombardment, or just didn't want to leave, all littered the ground in ways that no doubt was going to give her nightmares for years after this! It was soooo much better at sea. At least there if you died and got sunk, you didn't wind up on display for everyone to see...

Another Abyssal rocket slammed into the wall across from Hibiki, and the Russiophile was rocked back with a cry of surprise as it detonated. As the sign for Perfecto Street ( _and whose idea was it to name it THAT of all things?!_ ) flew into a gutter, Akatsuki returned fire with her primary turret, the weapon bucking in her hand as the shell blew up the corner that the enemy was hiding behind. "Hibiki-chan, are you okay?" she asked.

"Ah... Hai. I'm fine," the white-haired girl replied, shaking off the shock of the close call. "Let's keep moving."

Passing by a restaurant called 'Eat-and-Save', the duo sprinted down the street until they came to the end of the block, seeing Ikazuchi and Inazuma on the other side of the bombed-out church that faced the street. Seeing the community hall that was built into the retaining wall across from them, the four destroyers linked back up with one another at its doors just as Tenryuu, Tone, and Chikuma came around the corner from where they'd gone a block down.

Sidling in next to them, Tenryuu peered through the slatted blinds of one window into the darkened building. Seeing nothing moving inside, she nodded to the girls, and Inazuma quietly pushed the door open to slip inside, her sister right behind.

"Mooouuuu... We should have just kicked it in and rushed!" Ikazuchi complained.

"Shhh! You don't want to give away our position!" Akatsuki said in a harsh whisper.

"What if they heard you, nanodesu?"

"She's right. Don't give yourself away too quickly, okay?" Their squad leader bonked the excitable little brunette on the head as she passed, sword still ready as she scanned the rooms with her one good eye. Once they got to the back though, they saw a train yard, the cars having toppled in some places while others were sitting silently on the tracks. Overhead, the occasional aircraft zipped through the skies nearby, and somewhere the sounds of a rotored aircraft, likely a helicopter, passed above the empty yard. Or at least mostly empty...

"I count 12 infantry types in front of that warehouse," Tone said, still holding the patched hole in her middle while panning her eyes around.

"Just 12? That seems kind of light..." Ikazuchi claimed.

"There's another two groups of 10 behind those cars there. Still, it HAS been fairly light, so far," her sister replied. "Maybe they pushed on faster than we thought? It would explain why we're mostly seeing boarding parties now, nanodesu."

"Ehhhhh... I don't know, it could be, but that doesn't seem right, you know?" Tenryuu replied as she also looked out the back. "Can't just make a charge like that without support coming up the rear, and we haven't seen anything yet coming up behind us, right?"

Chikuma, still in a bit of shock over what happened off the piers but making an admirable effort to keep focused now, responded next. "Maybe.. Maybe they were expecting to encircle their targets here, then move south towards the government areas and their other forces? Didn't the Germans do the same once?"

"A Blitzkrieg? Nah, even they had support coming up behind to handle the mess afterwards... Though until the Americans get here and further secure the coast, we'll have to..."

"YEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"BANZAI MOTHER-FUCKERS!"

"GERONIMO!"

"IIIIIINCOMIIIIIIING!"

Looking up, Tenryuu and the girls saw four forms drop down directly on top of the group nearest the warehouse, and immediately they began tearing into the Abyssal forces there like a pack of rabid wolves on a carcass! The light cruiser saw one infantry-type lose its finned head as a ship-girl half his height swung a baseball bat and sent the aquatic horror's skull flying. The other group of Abyssals began to open fire, both on the newcomers and on their own comrades, when Tenryuu cursed.

"Alright, that's it... CHARGE!" she said, and with only a single step back rammed her shoulder into the wall of the building, sending concrete and rebar flying as she started sprinting, DesDiv6 and the cruisers right behind her. A shell from her cannons sent one train car flying as it landed on three of the Abyssals, and the Destroyer-type that had been hidden behind it gave a roar of surprise as it was roused to action. Turning, it fired its mouth-cannon at the incoming girls, causing Inazuma to shriek as it clipped the rigging on her hip, smashing through a piece of superstructure but thankfully hitting nothing on the 'girl' part of the ship-girl. In retaliation, Ikazuchi let out a warcry of her own and sent three shells at the Abyssal ship.

Anger had caused her aim to be off though, and though the shells bracketed the I-class destroyer, it was able to skitter on stubby, grub-like legs as it strafed sideways like some demented crab, firing at them and kicking up dirt and stone. Finally though, Hibiki managed to land a shot into its port side while Chikuma blasted its aft off with an HE round, and the creature cried out like a wounded animal, only for Tenryuu to finally close the range and pierce the creature's skull with her katana.

Looking over at the newcomers, the former IJN cruiser saw one of them with long brown hair down to her chest, with a white shirt and naval cap in the American style. A trio of turrets hung from her hips and two torpedo mounts were strapped to her thighs where dark shorts peeked out from a blue skirt. High-topped black socks and brown shoes ended the ensemble, though the latter now had blue-green fluids staining them and the knuckles of her fists as she stove in the ribs of another Abyssal. The last enemy soldier within the group they'd landed on died at the hands of a raven-haired girl dressed in the same style of outfit before the brunette looked up with a grin. "Hey there! Heard you needed a hand!"

The Japanese flagship just grinned in return. "We'd have had 'em ourselves, but you managed to get the 'drop' on them first I suppose. Name's Tenryuu, JMSDF. You?"

"DD557, USS Johnston!" the American said with a grin, before jerking a thumb back behind her. "The raven's Heerman, and the blonde's our lead for this op, Hoel!"

The two other shipgirls each gave a devilish grin and a salute, Heerman sporting a busted tooth from the looks of it, while their blue eyes glittered with joy and bloodlust that was mirrored in Johnston's green ones. Tenryuu couldn't help but grin in return, though she noticed that the fourth one was still wreaking havoc amongst the remaining infantry-types, all while cursing like... well like the sailor she was dressed as. "And her?" Tenryuu asked.

"Ah, that's Sammy."

"Sammy?"

"Yeah, Sammy B. Roberts! HEY SAMMY!" Johnston called out, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"WHAT?!"

"QUIT PICKIN' ON THE WEAKLINGS AND GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OVER HERE A MINUTE!"

"GIMME A SECOND!" Snapping the neck of one last Abyssal before letting the corpse fall to the ground. A pair of five inch shells later finished off the remainder, and the girl skipped her way over to the group, red braided pigtails waving in the air as they seemed to keep her hat up against gravity's wishes. "Alright, who do we got here? Backup?"

"YOU'RE the backup shrimp! Or did you not get the transmission beforehand? You all came with Maryland and Houston, right?" Tone replied.

"HA! Only time THIS ship plays second fiddle in a fight is when the first one's already dead! What the fuck made you think otherwise bitch?"

Akatsuki had already been askance at the sheer language the Americans had been using, but this was too much. "A Lady should watch her language!"

"HA! Whatcha going to do about it? Cry to momma?" Sammy said with a shit-eating grin.

"ENOUGH! This isn't why we're here!" Tenryuu said as she stepped in. "So, what made you decide to go air-express here?"

Hoel chuckled. "The Admiral figured that using a chopper would make it easier for us to get inland quick, with most of the shoreline already secured. That and speed was a priority for the response. Maryland, Houston and the others are still getting into the port though to secure the area."

"Heh, good to know! Alright then, we've all got a job to do then, no matter who's in charge," she said, looking pointed at where Sammy and Ikazuchi were squaring off with one another. "Besides, there's an easy way to settle this little debacle!"

"Yeah? What's that?" Hoel asked, crossing her arms curiously.

"We've already killed over a hundred Abyssals in this fight so far," the cruiser said with a smirk. "If you can't catch up before the fight's over, you pay for the ice cream! If you do, it's on us!"

This got ALL of the destroyers' eyes to widen, before grins broke out eagerly. "YOU GOT A FUCKING DEAL!" was the Americans' response.

* * *

The rage that had been building within Leviathan this whole night found itself suddenly solidifying into a cold, hard slab within her, the edge of which bit deep into her psyche as she looked at the gore around her feet. It was obvious that the Abyssals had been more concerned with speed as opposed to thoroughness, given the direction that the blood and viscera were spread in, painting a corridor leading to the hall and stairwell beyond, but that didn't make it any less gruesome to look at. Looking down, Leviathan saw the form of an old man, probably in his 80's at the time with the remains of an oxygen mask around his face, beaten and torn apart with the dead body of a nurse less than a third his age beneath him, her head removed from the stump of the neck along with both of her legs, one at the thigh, the other just past the knee. Likely these people hadn't been able to evacuate soon enough, and by the time the staff was ready to transport them it had been too late. It made her clench her fists and teeth together, the material of her gloves and skin creaking as she did so, while the coppery-yet-acidic taste of her blood filled her mouth. Body parts were strewn everywhere as other patients and hospital staff were laid in various states of carnage, covered only by the dust that fell from the cracked ceiling as Abyssals fired at the shoreline from above.

The bridge was already burning behind her as her Pelicans made recon runs around the island, buzzing building tops to get a closer look, only to be forced away by anti-aircraft fire and small arms. Most of the enemy here seemed to be destroyer-types, but there were two others similar to the one Leviathan had fought in the alley while another humanoid type seemed to be directing the bombardment forces. While she had been right in that the destroyer she'd fired on before had alerted others of its kind, the dumb, beast-like Abyssals had apparently thought that a small force could handle it themselves, and didn't bother informing the others. This meant that when she killed them, the spaceship-girl essentially had free reign to sneak around... Which had led her to the scene she'd come across.

As another volley was fired from the guns above her, Leviathan made a promise to herself, and began marching towards the abused staircase beyond the slaughterhouse in order to fulfill it. She didn't know if everyone was dead like this, or if there were other survivors, which made using her guns too much of a risk. Not that that would stop her... In fact, getting up close and personal was starting to feel like just what the doctor ordered... A bloody grin was started to paint itself across Levi's face when she heard something rattle in the room, and immediately her arm came up to point in its direction. Looking around, her sensors and radar showed no returns that she could detect, but SOMETHING had set off her warning senses.

Carefully stepping forward, Leviathan panned her arm, and the turrets attached to it, around in a search pattern, all while keeping her ears open. It was faint, but once she was halfway into the side room she realized another sound against the background of the booming cannons... Looking against the wall where a bookshelf was, a sliding door to a medium-sized space was partially open. From the looks of it, the door was also loose, and probably what made the rattling noise from before. But what caught Levi's attention was the sound of someone crying...

Slowly kneeling down, her turrets still panning just in case, the cruiser bent a knee and then slowly slid aside the cupboard door to reveal a young boy with tanned skin and wide brown eyes hiding underneath black hair. For a second, the boy looked ready to scream, until Leviathan clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shhhhhhh..." she said, raising her other hand up to her helmet-covered lips. "You don't want the Abyssals to hear you." After waiting a moment to see if he would calm down or not, she slowly pulled her hand away from the boy's face. "It's okay... It's okay..." Leviathan said to him reassuredly, before reaching up for her helmet's edge. With a hiss, the helmet came off with a hiss, and Leviathan put it down gently while looking into the boy's eyes with her own golden ones, dark blue bangs swaying gently as the rest were tucked up into a ponytail. "Hey, what's your name?" she asked quietly, though the boy still looked scared out of his mind.

"M-Mar-Mark Anthony..." he said.

"Ah, nice to meet you then Mark. You got a last name?" Leviathan asked, only to be surprised when he shook his head. "No?"

Mark shook his head again, still huddled in the cabinet. "We... Some of us don't have any... Not until we get adopted..."

This caused Leviathan's breath to hitch a bit, before sighing. "Ah, well... as I said, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Levi, okay?" The boy's wide-eyed look was all the sign she needed to know that he was starting to calm down... But she didn't have much time. "Listen, I have to go... I'm going to make sure those monsters don't threaten anyone else any more, okay? But I need you to do something for me, okay?"

The look the boy gave her was accompanied by silence, but she knew he was listening. "I need you to be brave now, and quiet... Stay hidden until I come back, then I'll take you someplace safe, okay?"

Mark looked a little anxious as he replied. "But.. But they're..."

"I know, I know... Don't worry about me though, okay? Us big kids gotta be able to stay strong after all, hmmm? And trust me, I'm the biggest around... So I gotta make sure that everyone else stays safe." She reached out and brushed the hairs from Mark's brow. "Now, I'll be back soon, just sit tight..." she said, before moving to close the door.

"What about the others?"

That caused Levi to halt a moment as well. "I'm sure they'll be just fine," she said. "Now, be a good boy, okay? Be strong..."

Mark nodded at that, and Leviathan gave an answering nod in reply before closing the door with a dull click. Taking a moment to breath, she reached for her helmet and put it on again before walking back towards the stairs again.

"Should we assume there are other survivors then?" Hephaestus spoke up in her helmet's comms.

"Yes... If they prioritized getting into position, then it's likely anyone in another shelter or even a basement might still be alive. We'll have to do this the hard way..."

Hephaestus grumbled. "I don't think we were quite designed with close quarters in mind..."

"A problem we'll truly have to address later... For now though, we'll improvise."

* * *

As the three cruisers and eight destroyers fought their way further into the city, Tenryuu again grinned at the sight of eight seemingly little girls thoroughly trashed the monstrous forces they were up against while she and the Tone sisters provided the heavier support-fire. Pulling her sword out of the guts of an Abyssal infantryman that had gotten too close, its face surprisingly human despite the soulless black orbs of its eyes and the pallid blue-grey of its flesh, Tenryuu watched as Inazuma used a torpedo as a makeshift stick-bomb, the explosive weapon cooking off as its mechanisms overheated due to being used outside of the water. Sammy was firing her two 5 inch guns like a cowboy's pistols, all while screaming obscenities at the Abyssals' mothers and the foul deeds of Davy Jones who likely fathered them.

"You seem to be taking this pretty well... Where the hell'd you pick up this kind of fighting skill anyhow?" Hoel asked as she looked at the normally shy Inazuma.

"Weren't your crew also trained in boarding operations and counter-boarding?" Ikazuchi asked as she brushed off a bit of debris.

Hoel blinked. "Yes, but how does that factor in...?"

She pointed at the broken streets and alleyways. "Corridors, bulkheads, hatchways, torn through by shellfire... It's not much different!" Ikazuchi said with a grin, one that was matched by Tenryuu.

"Heh, well put squirt! Oi! Laffy Taffies! We're pushing up!"

Tenryuu merely grinned as her words caused a virtual deluge of curses and insults from 3 out of the 4 american destroyers as they all rushed forward, led by Sammy B herself with a warcry that would make a barbarian proud.

* * *

"I know it's too early for a true analysis Parker-san, but what do you feel comfortable telling us so far?"

Chief Warrant Officer James Parker watched the screen through flinty eyes, pupils tracking over the images that had been recorded so far, as well as those printed images that Nagato had been looking through from previous observations.

The satellites hadn't managed to get many good views of the area where the _Ju_ -class had descended into after crossing the river, the smoke from the bombardment and residual cloud cover had blocked it, but they knew that she had stepped in when a group of Abyssals had targeted the marine force in the area. While many of the positions there had been abandoned after that assault smashed them, the _Ju_ -class had stopped the enemy from pursuing just as the clouds had swept over.

...And then when the cloud cover had receded, she was heading over the bridge towards Isla de Convalesca. And while a lot of their forces had managed to regroup, there were a number of marines unaccounted for.

"Well, she's definitely not listening to whoever's commanding the enemy op. That and whoever designed her didn't do so with any of this in mind..."

"The same could be said for any ship-girl as well," the raven-haired battleship said, causing the Intelligence analyst to nod in return.

"That's true, but this is different. Even previous experiments by the enemy, or at least the ones we've seen, all were put into environments that played to their strengths. Given how this one's acting, she's trying to compensate for the fight, but it's not her primary means of engagement."

"She's holding back you mean?"

Parker nodded again. "Possibly. Those missiles you showed me could level this city, whether that was her goal or if she were just using it on the Abyssals alone, but she's refraining from them now. It could be ammunition stocks getting low, or it could simply be that she's being careful and opting for a different method. Either could be the case, but I'm betting on the former for the most part."

Nagato spared the man a glance. "Oh? You believe she'll be needing a resupply soon?"

"Noone can fight indefinitely, and she's been waging a one-ship battle all night. And not in the same form of engagement as at sea either. If she can fly, she'll have been burning through fuel stores faster than if she were floating. We've seen that no matter how much spooky bullshit the Abyssals have, they do seem to have a limit on how much they can cheat. We've seen supply ships amongst them on numerous occasions when they do a big operation, and we know that they do have some kind of logistics chain, even if they can bypass the normal requirements on other occasions..."

"So likely her going to this level is due to necessity, rather than choice?"

The man kneaded his forehead, sitting back in his chair as he thought and watched as the Isla's artillery fire started to slacken. "Likely... But like you said, it's too early to tell. I'll need to get my full team on this."

Nagato nodded at that. "Understood. I'll have the materials sent to you as soon as possible." Watching the screens again, the Japanese battleship watched with a stony countenance, even as DesDiv6's markers moved in unison to Taffy 3's further inland.

"So what were you thinking?" Parker asked after a moment. "Did you want to send anyone to do a close-up inspection then? Or a Contact?"

"I've already rerouted a plane carrying troops to take them there, yes..." Nagato replied. "Hopefully we'll have some answers then."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two playing the guessing game, they were partially correct. Leviathan's ammunition stores were at just under 11% for her point defence cannons, and while her Archer pods were still closer to 60% capacity she couldn't use them now, to say nothing of her MAC gun. Her ground teams were starting to get low as well, and as soon as she finished with this group, the cruiser was going to send her Pelicans out to resupply them. For the moment though, they'd have to wait.

The masked _He_ -class Abyssal in her hands gurgled as it breathed its last, its core a shattered and bleeding mess as Leviathan kept one hand around its throat and the other buried in its guts, tearing out viscera and sludge that felt far too oily to the cruiser's fingers. The rest of the artillery Abyssals were in a similar state, broken more by hand than by cannon, return fire from their guns having been slow to reset themselves for the most part and target something that close, though a destroyer-type had gotten off one shot that ricocheted off her breastplate and collar to go up into the air before exploding. Their command ship had hesitated to fire, possibly due to the chance of hitting the ammunition stores of its friends, which had given Leviathan the chance to close the distance, while others had opened up with smaller caliber weapons that did nothing to Leviathan's two-meter-thick-equivalent armor.

With one of the enemy teams now bleeding out into the ground, Levi turned to her map. There were still three more sites to take down, and with one of them moving their targeting past the palace towards an oil field, that made stopping it a priority. Moving swiftly, the ship-girl ran through corridors and walkways towards the next site, hearing another muzzle belch as a shell was sent into the city's belly. Hitching up against a corner, Leviathan ducked her head out just long enough to get an image that locked itself on her HUD before getting back into cover as a single volley passed through where her head had been and blasting a side-building apart.

"Hmmmm, looks like they're ready for me this time," she said, thinking for a moment. Sure, she COULD just walk in and shrug off what they threw at her, but noone ever took stupid risks if they could help it. Tapping her side for a second, her fingers unconsciously went to the oblong objects held there, and she only realized it after having grabbed one of them and pulled it off. Levi looked down at the drop pod in her hand. It didn't have a whole lot of heft, just enough to let you know it was there and meant business, but overall was rather comfortable. Within the pod however (' _Or was it pods, plural? It had the feel of it...'_ ) came a cacophony of eager little voices, all demanding to be thrown at the enemy.

"You guys want to give it a try, huh?" she said, looking down at the pod in her hand. Getting a rather enthusiastic affirmative over her comms, Leviathan grinned. "Alright then, let's see what you can do..."

* * *

The Light Cruiser knew that the Traitor was there, every strut in her body telling her that as surely as the oil coursing in her veins. The _Tsu_ -class' oversized hands were pointed up at the clearing's entrance in a manner very similar to what the Traitor had used, her four turrets waiting for the excuse to fire again and make the human-loving bitch pay. Behind her, three destroyers were still firing up into the air, while two more and several of the land-based proxies were watching both the entrance and side passages that led to the park-like spot that they'd set up on.

As they waited, something smacked against the side of one of the I-class' hulls with a metallic 'Clunk!' Looking down, a black pod of some sort had stuck to it like a remora, unwilling to let go. The Cruiser thought to remove the pod, but before she could do so it seemed to explode! At first it was just smoke and a bit of shrapnel, but as the Abyssal turned back to its subordinate she saw it thrashing about in pain, roaring out as it rolled about on its back. Moving closer to it as the destroyer went still, she saw its hide crack and then break apart to reveal something inside. A small humanoid figure, similar to the fairies that their counterparts used, stood in the crater of the I-class' belly, dressed in black plated armor and helmet with a silver-blue visor. In fingerless-gloved hands, it held against its shoulder a strange, almost rectangular device that opened up to reveal a red light that was glowing brighter...

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" shouted the ODST gremlin, as it fired the mini Spartan Laser directly into the cruiser's face just as its brothers all popped out of the Abyssal's corpse.

* * *

"A-are w-we sure th-that it's s-safe?" William D. Porter asked as she looked out a side window in the transport's hull along with the heavy cruiser Louisville. The little destroyer was visibly shaking in her boots, brown braid almost vibrating as she nervously clenched at her hand-mounted turret. The Dixie-cup hat on her head was tilted a little off-center, and the freckled girl still had a band-aid on her nose from where she'd bumped into the door on the way into the plane back in Yokosuka, all of which only served to make the little American that much more adorable to the others around her. Louisville wasn't much different, aside from looking older and a brighter blue jacket, though her hair was kept in a ponytail instead of a braid, and her turrets were paired on a secondary hull at her hip while a saber rode the other side next to her float-plane.

"It's perfectly safe! Don't worry about it!" an orange-clad light cruiser replied. Sendai had volunteered for this operation, though given the night-time operations that wasn't much of a surprise. Despite having lost both of her sisters earlier in the war, the lone cruiser had kept up a good spirit in order to push on. Many were worried that the devastation of losing her sister ship-girls would have crippled her, but the Sendai class was tougher than most gave her credit for. As it was though, Sendai HAD been showing herself to be more willing to throw herself at the Abyssals lately. "We'll have the enemy running in no time at all! Right Musashi-sama?"

The battleship in question nodded as she looked out onto the still-burning city through another port-hole, the firelight glinting off her glasses while she stood with arms crossed over her bandage-covered breasts. Nagato had figured, most likely rightly, that in the tight confines of a city, a battleship's armor and firepower would allow for a superior survivability chance, and since she hadn't been sortied for any other operations yet, it was felt that having one of the mightiest of the fleet on hand if things went wrong was just prudent precautions. Especially now that this new factor was in place. Looking over to her right, Musashi noted the other battleship that had come along, Scharnhorst, was doing some final checks on his rigging. More often looked at as a battlecruiser rather than a battleship, the Kriegsmarine ship was still a good addition to the group, and in a way helped to further round out the feeling of an International expedition. The fact that he and his brother Gneisnau had come back as two of the handful of ship-boys that had come forth didn't change the professionalism that he'd shown either, something that given Musashi's interactions with Harder had a meant a LOT more. All they needed now was one of the British ship-girls and they'd be set for a full representation.

"The enemy has a head start, but resistance was much stiffer than they were apparently expecting," Musashi replied. "The coast is back under local control, so now it is up to us to flush them out from the streets themselves. I expect you all to perform well... Not that you don't already, but now we'll be having an unknown to account for as well as this being unfamiliar territory for us."

"Ah... Y-you think she'll be s-scary like the others?" Willie asked.

"It matters not," Scharnhorst replied as he stood up. "We've been tasked to investigate their purpose here, and to determine what threat she poses to the Allied Fleets and the war against the Abyssals. We will prevail in it."

Musashi nodded. "Indeed. Whatever she does, we shall be ready for."

A light began to flicker in the back of the cabin, and Musashi walked over to hit the intercom button. "Is there a problem?"

"Negative! We're approaching the drop point now! Last call for prep, we'll be ready in 5 minutes!" the pilot called from the cockpit.

"Affirmative! We await the green light!" she said, before turning to the others. "Alright! Strap up! Prepare for battle!"

Willie began strapping herself to Scharnhorst's rigging, additional straps set up in a parachutist's buddy system while Sendai did the same with Louisville. Musashi would be jumping on her own, but would be carrying a pack of extra equipment that her scout planes would be using to record their interaction with the target just in case. As each ship-girl (and boy) double checked each others' rig, testing straps and making sure that their equipment didn't interfere with one another on the way down, the small fleet then gathered at the back hatch, just as the light flickered on to warn them that the pilot was beginning to open it.

The city hung beneath them as daylight began to creep over the horizon, and Musashi took a moment to appreciate the symbolism that they would be arriving with the rising sun. It was a good feeling, to come as rescuer and not invader or enemy, and one that the battleship relished. Looking over at the jumper's light, it kept itself a solid red for a good, long moment... and then finally pulsed green. "GREEN LIGHT FOR JUMP! GO! GO! GO!" the pilot called out, and with a running start the five leapt out the back of the plane and descended into the warzone that was once Manila...

* * *

Leviathan finished collecting her Helljumpers as the last Abyssal artillery team lay in pieces, a couple of new scratches on her armor while her gremlins came out with only one casualty, who himself was merely cursing due to the shattered arm and leg he had. Nothing a good rest in her medbay wouldn't fix, but that didn't wipe the proud little smile from creeping onto Levi's face as she hugged the little devils to her hull. "Atta boys... You did good out here. Now, back to barracks. I'll have more work for you later," the cruiser said, before standing up. With them stowed away, Levi called in her Pelicans to refuel and resupply, before sending them out to reconnect with her marines. Speaking of which...

"Sergeant, could you put Bautista on the line please?" she radioed to the one marine.

"Ooo!" came the reply, before the sound of someone trying to fumble with a helmet mic came across.

"Ah, hello? Bautista here, over!" came a rather loud version of the marine's voice, which Leviathan tuned down in her own comms set.

"Reading you loud and clear Bautista, this is Leviathan. Everything alright on your end? Over."

"Ah, roger that Leviathan," the man said, fiddling with the tiny helmet in his palm, the fairy-thing that had given it to him frowning up at him in the process. "Reyes has finally woken up, though he's still out of it somewhat. You dealt with those artillery yet? Over."

"Affirmative Bautista. These guys won't be bothering anyone else again. I've located one survivor here as well, and there might be more. I'm going to see about collecting them all and escorting them back to safety, but the only route off the island is currently rubble. Is there a corridor clear there that I can bring them through? Have you made contact with your command yet? Over."

"Roger that Leviathan. Reinforcements are on the way, but if you've got survivors there I can see about calling in an airlift for them, over."

"That would be appreciated Bautista. I'll radio you once I've got them all rounded up. Sergeant, stick with Bautista's team until reinforcements arrive, then call for Pelican extraction. Leviathan out," she said, listening for the gremlin's confirmation before closing the channel. As Leviathan made her way back towards the first buildings, she let a true smile spread across her lips. "Today's looking up after all. Guess there is a silver lining to things," she said.

Stomping her way back towards the first hospice area, she started down the stairs towards the side room where Mark-Anthony had been. She was about to call out, rounding the corner as she did, when the image in front of her caused Leviathan to freeze. The cupboard was a shattered mess, and blood stained the broken wood and papers. Unwillingly, the cruiser's eyes followed the trail of life fluid towards a doorway, where she beheld the wounded form of an I-class destroyer. Its jaws were slick and red, and a bit of bone showed where it got caught in its teeth. Seemingly aware of its visitor, the black-shelled creature turned one burning blue eye towards her, animalistic intelligence seeing another predator having entered its domain, and it growled warningly at her.

Leviathan shook as she saw all this, yet any thoughts that might have otherwise formed were drowned out by the sheer RAGE that was threatening to boil forth from her... And after a mere second's hesitation the cruiser let the chains holding it back shatter! A roar of pure HATE and ANGER poured forth from her throat, lips curled back to reveal the fangs that replaced her molars and canines as she lunged at the destroyer, hands curled into claws while the jaws of her MAC gun opened wide to attack as well...

* * *

Moving from building to building, Willie kept her gun pointed in front of her as she listened for anything moving around. It was quiet, and while she and Scharnhorst were both moving quietly, the ship-girl had wondered if maybe it'd been a mistake for her to come. She KNEW she wasn't the most skilled of the fleet, even if she were one of the first of the American ship-girls to come back. Oh, she wasn't quite as pessimistic as she'd been in the first couple of months... or year really, but the little destroyer was still quite aware that she was the clumsiest. Gulping as she moved down another sidewalk, Willie saw Sendai practically stalking the alleys like the ninja everyone said she resembled. Willie had never seen it herself though really, weren't ninjas supposed to dress in black after all? But she did have to admit that the light cruiser had a talent for sneaking around.

Scharnhorst also had worries, but his were more mission-oriented. He'd seen a few dead Abyssals by now, looking like they'd been beaten and torn apart as well as shot up, but no sign of who did it. Holding his primary Anton turret in his hands like a rifle, the ship-boy moved forward to cover Willie. Musashi and Louisville were nearby, he knew, but with the buildings blocking his line of sight the Kriegsmariner was feeling claustrophobic...

Suddenly, a loud shrieking roar could be heard, overlapped quickly by a second deeper roar that only lasted for a few heartbeats before stuttering to a halt. The shrieking continued however, as both Willie and Scharnhorst looked at each other before bolting towards the source of it. Sendai was also following it, moving swiftly yet cautiously through the alleys with her sword in one hand and turret-arm up and ready in the other. Before they got to the source of the cries however, it decided to make is presence known in another way, as a wall burst from within to reveal two black-clad figures wrestling with one another, eldritch blue light coming from one of them as both broadcast their rage and hate for one another at full volume into the other's face.

As the dust cleared, the larger of the two overtook the smaller, wounded one and started smashing it into the ground, pinning the destroyer's oversized, shark-like jaws with its hands while its... Tail from the looks of it... darted in and out like a scorpion's tail, ripping into the soft, bleeding underbelly like an animal. Taking a step back while keeping his weapons aimed at the _Ju_ -class, Scharnhorst finally spotted Louisville coming out across the yard from him and grabbing at her saber, her two turrets already locking onto the giant Abyssal brawl. A shared glance between the four visible ship-people communicated the need to wait and see what was happening, but even then all of them felt their fingers tightening on triggers as the _Ju_ -class let out another roar. With one last punch to the destroyer's carapace, the armor cracked and buckled to crush whatever passed for its brain, causing the I-class' stubby legs to twitch and then freeze from where they'd been trying to push back its attacker, then finally go limp. Not done yet, the Ju-class grabbed the lower jaw of the beast and heaved upwards, holding the rest of the thing's body down with an armored knee until the appendage tore off in a bloody spray of greenish-black fluids. Tossing the jaw away, nearly hitting Scharnhorst in the process, the larger Abyssal began to pound at the thing's corpse, crushing and mutilating it even further in a violent rage.

As Musashi finally entered the clearing as well, it was to this sight that the normally haughty battleship felt herself tense up nervously, taking in the full form of their target as it heaved from its exertions. Panting breathing came out like growls from beneath a maw-shaped helmet, visor glittering between black fangs while the serpent-like tail pulled back on cable-like muscles, or perhaps actual cables, to rest again against its owner's back like a stowed rifle. As the Abyssal caught its breath, it finally noticed that it was surrounded, and turned its head to look straight at her. For a moment, the battleship thought that it would begin hostilities again, but instead it seemed to freeze.

"Mu... Musashi? Is that... you?" it said, its voice coming out still ragged, but instead of aggression it sounded confused. Abruptly the silvery coloring of the _Ju_ -class' helmet faded away, becoming as clear as glass and allowing the battleship to actually see the face of the... woman underneath the armor. Pale skin glinted, and yet it was her eyes that caught Musashi's attention. Abyssals usually had blue or green-colored eyes that glowed with that eldritch light of St. Elmo's fire, but there were exceptions. The ones that survived multiple engagements or had better equipment than their fellows tended to have a reddish glow to them, and were more aggressive, and some had hints of purple that seemed to indicate ones that had special abilities or the like. Yellow ones though... Those were reserved solely for what were presumed to be flagships, the commanders of the various Abyssal squadrons and fleets, the ones that actually showed the intelligence befitting something more than animals. Seeing that coloration on this _Ju_ -class was already sending warning sirens throughout her mind, yet Musashi was struck by how the Abyssal seemed to be... recognizing her from somewhere. For a moment, they all stood still as they stared at one another, the other ship-girls and boy confused and unsure of what they were supposed to do now, while Musashi and Leviathan were both just flat confused...

And it was at that point that Willie tried to take a nervous step back, only to trip on a piece of concrete and fall back on her ass... and her gun fired off a shell that exploded directly against Leviathan's faceplate...


	12. Omake Chapter 1: The Trouble with Titles

Author's Note: This is in no way anything official, whether for this fic or not, but something that came to me as a result of a debate between some of my readers, and I felt the need to share it with you all! Enjoy it while you wait for the next chapter!

* * *

"LET GO! HE'S MINE!"

"NO HE'S MINE!"

"STOP IT! YOU'RE GOING TO BREAK HIM!"

Leviathan turned the corner to look into the barracks, spotting a certain trio of space-girls arguing... again. This had been happening more and more as they started showing up, and in all honesty, Levi was starting to believe that she was inheriting Goto's and Settle's headaches. "What the hell is it this time?"

Immediately three pairs of eyes all looked the flagship's way, all bearing the same angry scowl. The tallest one was _Pillar of Autumn_ , who was rather tall at 6'2", and had the figure of someone who was in the prime of their life and just hitting adulthood, wearing a nearly skin-tight sleeveless bodysuit covered by a set of BDU pants from a navy crewman and showing off some ample curves. Her face was young-looking, but the grey hair and deep brown eyes gave hint that she was much older than she appeared.

The other two were much smaller, more resembling a pair of ten year olds rather than women, both with hair down to their shoulders in blonde and brown shades, and sparkling blue eyes that at the moment were rather stormy. They were both also wearing suit-dresses, the knee-length skirts giving way to dark stockings and equally dark-grey shoes, and coats that looked like little officers' jackets with a stripe across the chest. The blonde one bore a bright yellow stripe, while the brunette had a blue one. They were, respectively, _In Amber Clad_ and _Forward Unto Dawn_.

And in the middle of all of them, an action figure of the Master Chief had each of its limbs in one of the girls' grasp...

Leviathan looked from the toy to the each ship-girl in turn, her eyes half-lidded dubiously. "Do I want to know?"

"They're trying to take the Chief away from me!" Amber said, yanking the figure her way again.

"NUH UH! You're the one being greedy! You already had him once!" Dawn replied, pulling back her way.

"Get your hands off of him! He's mine!" Autumn replied. "You both are too young for him anyways!"

"Can it you hag! You had your chance and blew it!"

"Yeah! Besides, you're too old and wrinkly!"

"WHY YOU LITTLE...!"

"LADIES! Enough!" Leviathan said, stepping up and then reaching into the midst of the throng and plucking the toy out of their hands. "This is ridiculous... You ALL carried him into battle, and I know you all care about him, but this is a bit much for a toy, you know?"

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE TOY!" the three cried out, causing the cruiser to blink.

"Oh? Then if not that, then what the hell are you all fighting about?"

Amber crossed her arms in front of her chest and put her chin up high. "I only said that since I got to carry him around for his parade return on Earth before the Covenant attacked, that I get to be His Official ship!"

"No way! *I* was the one who carried him to his biggest fight! If anything, *I* should be the one called that!" Dawn said, thumbing herself in the chest to emphasize her words.

"Hmph..." Autumn said as she too crossed her arms. "You're both wrong... If anyone's his Official ship, it would be the one who was MADE for him! And that's ME!"

"No way! Just because you got refit for him doesn't make you the official ship!"

"It does too! It's how it always works!"

"It's a title! Not an arranged marriage!"

Leviathan's face could match that of a ten-year veteran at a tech-support desk at that point, the long-and-tired look of suffering that was also found on the eternally damned in Hell... While Autumn blushed and stammered and tried to deny the implications of what Dawn had just said while Amber worked herself up into another tirade, she had finally had enough. "ALRIGHT! Look, it doesn't matter who's 'official' and who's not, you're all comrades in arms and you all got the same result anyways! Grow up and learn to share!" Ignoring the trio of blushes that were starting to grow on the faces of the ship-girls, Levi then stalked away from the room. It was only when she was outside did she realize the action figure was still in her hand.

"Huh... They really did get the details right on him..." she said, looking it over, then shrugging before spotting an open window of the barracks. "Well, at least they'll stop shouting for the rest of the night... Time for a drink." With a casual toss, Leviathan let the figure of the Master Chief soar out of her hand through the window to land on one of the beds inside, which produced a shrill cry of alarm. Ducking her head through the window quickly, Leviathan saw the form of a destroyer-girl rocking back and forth in the corner, staring in abject fear at the figure.

"Ohhhh shit..." Leviathan said, taking the figure back. "Uh... Sorry about that Resolute! Forgot about your uh... Look, try and get some sleep, okay? I'll be back in the morning."

"Can't sleep... Chief will get me... Can't sleep... Chief will get me..."

"For God's sake Res, there is no 'Chief blows up all his ships' curse! Stop it! History will NOT retcon itself to get you just because you come in contact with an action figure!"


	13. Chapter 12: The Battle of Manila, Part 4

Author's Note: Since a lot of people were wondering about the omake, the UNSC Resolute is a destroyer that has the dubious distinction of being the only ship that the Master Chief has been aboard that WASN'T blown up/self-destructed/infested by Flood/rammed into something. I found it funny that this trend of his would mean that she'd consider herself extremely lucky and at the same time a bit worried about that if she ever encountered the Chief again.

Also, I realized that there is some discrepancies in the canon between the books I've been using as reference and some of the games, to this end there are some slight alterations, in which I'll be editing some of the previous chapters and re-uploading them. The short version is that I'll be bringing the timeline of the UNSC/Covenant war in line with the canon and making it 27 years instead of the 35 I'd written previously, as well as trying to mesh the events of Halo Reach and Fall Of Reach together in a believable manner. Also, the Abyssal war will have been going for 5 years and not the previous 2 that I'd written.

Also, I know this opening may anger some people... but to hell with it! I have a thing for what I think of as 'logical' consequences and given what's been happening and the feelings running through them, this is pretty much what one would expect to happen given everything. SO I DO NOT APOLOGIZE! TOO BAD!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, etc  
_

 **Bold - Emphasis and general creepiness**

* * *

"I.. *sniff* I... *sniff* I'm so-o-o-o-o-rr-rry-y-y-yyyyyy!" Willie cried out between sobs as Sendai patted her on the head, as much as she could with one good arm anyways.

"It's alright Willie... It's alright. We're all fine, so there's no need to cry!" the orange-clad ninja said, even as she tried to dry the younger ship-girl's tears.

"B-bu-but I... *sniff* I... I screwed up agaaaaaaaiiiiiiiin!"

Musashi sighed as Willie's waterworks went at full blast, turning to where Scharnhorst and Louisville, arguably the two in the best state of things despite everything, were sitting across from the reason for their presence in the city, Scharnhorst still nursing bruised ribs and Louisville trying to get the tooth marks out of her saber. The Abyssal hadn't re-engaged in hostilities since letting her up after their little brawl, which was a good thing in anyone's books, but if nothing else it was a little disconcerting how the large woman just seemed to find a seat against a stone bench and fumed to herself. Her tail-symbiote, or whatever it was, occasionally looked between her and the _Ju_ -class, as though talking to its host. And for all Musashi knew, it could very well be, though she could not hear any words exchanged...

To the Japanese ship-girl's credit, she was right on the mark, as Leviathan sat stewing in her own thoughts while Hephaestus spoke through her helmet. _"That could have gone better..."_

"No shit," Levi replied with a hint of acid into her mic. "Could have gone without getting shot too."

 _"It was an accident, you can't even argue that,"_ the AI responded.

"Yeah, but that's not what's bothering me and you know it..."

 _"We can't always protect everyone. You've known that for years. This isn't the first human life we've been unable to save, and as much as we'd like to believe otherwise, you know that it won't be the last either."_

The cruiser shut her eyes while her fingers cracked themselves against one another as they tightened into a ball beneath her chin, and as she set her forehead against her clasped fist, Leviathan released a pent up breath that did little to soothe the feelings burning inside. It did allow her to focus though. "I know... But for a moment it was nice to believe I could at least do so with the ones directly in front of me for once."

 _"Maybe one day... Anything's possible, even if improbable."_

Leviathan gave a murmur of agreement at that, before looking up at her weapon and speaking once more. "Changing the subject, what the hell's up with you? I thought that was my MAC gun, how the hell did you turn it into... whatever the hell it is now?"

Hephaestus' reply took a moment, which itself caused a bit of worry to the ship-girl. _"I... didn't."_

"Beg pardon?" she said as she straightened slightly in her seat.

 _"I didn't do anything to it per say, so much as I seem to have found a secondary set of functions to it. You are aware that when I came online, I pieced myself back together bit by bit, correct?"_

"And that you'd found new coding in place, but it didn't trip any warning functions... Heph, are you saying that you, in essence, found a way to become autonomous now?"

 _"No, that is not the case. I don't actually have control of it... It seems to be functioning on its own."_

Leviathan's eyes snapped open wide and locked onto the... 'tail' for lack of a better term, that was still hovering at her side. "Heph... Are you honestly telling me that there are _THREE_ of us in here now instead of two?"

 _"Oh no, if that were the case I'd have already told you of that,"_ the AI replied. _"No, it seems to act more as an extension that only activates under certain conditions. One of which appears to be when you feel a need for close combat. A reactionary program with limited functionality, even less than a 'dumb' AI would normally have had."_

"...So, putting aside any existential opinions THAT brings up, it basically responds to me, but can't think for itself?"

 _"That is correct. I was able to alter its targeting somewhat, much like I would with your point defences, which is why it targeted that one woman's weapon instead of attacking her directly..."_

"Thank you."

 _"No problem. As it is though, the more you calm down it seems to be slipping back into a dormant ready state. I detect no loss of function with it, but I do recommend that we do more tests."_

Leviathan sighed again. More tests... More things that they'd been putting off that they really shouldn't have before now, but were still dealing with. She had to wonder how much more would be thrown her way before she could finally stop dodging them and actually sit down to do it. Maybe her new 'friends' would oblige her, though given what had just happened...

* * *

 _10 minutes ago_

It was something of an odd design choice on the part of the UNSC when it came to the placement of the bridge on their ships, and one that many often commented on once they noticed it, especially from their opposites amongst the Covenant. All UNSC cruisers had a very durable armor scheme, and a very robust internal structure. It allowed them to be able to withstand multiple plasma torpedoes and shrug off pulse laser fire from anything other than point-blank range. Unless you targeted the armored missile pods or the hangar bay doors, which themselves were housed beneath an extended 'roof' of armor plating to protect them, then trying to get a one-shot hit on any UNSC vessel larger than frigate class was unheard of without some sort of cheating mechanism, or a Covenant energy projector.

Yet despite all this, the designers STILL insisted on putting the ship's bridge on an exterior portion of the hull. Whether it was redundancy (cameras break, but the mark one Eyeball doesn't), some psychological need to visibly see where you were going, or as Admiral Stanforth had once said 'Sometimes the crew needs to see their Captain put himself at risk for his crew', every cruiser and most frigates in the United Nations Space Command had a giant, armored crystal-plas window which allowed the commanders to look out at their enemies while also leaving the command crew vulnerable. In the case of the _Marathon_ class cruiser, this bridge was situated on the ventral portion of the ship, just behind and beneath the officers' quarters, which was itself directly beneath one of the engineering sections attached to the central MAC gun. It was armored on all other sides, yet still allowed a good 20 foot section to be protected only by the armor crys-plas on the bow-side. Admittedly, in order to line up a shot on it you'd have to be staring directly down the barrel or barrels of the ship's MAC guns, which meant you either had a suicidal death wish or a Covenant ship's shields, but the point was that it meant you had a very exposed section that seemed at odds with the rest of the ships' designs.

And apparently, as both Willie and the Abyssal destroyer who'd taken a pot-shot at her on the bridge before had found out, when Leviathan was turned into a quasi-human being with all her other capabilities, it translated into a very literal glass chin...

She was still seeing stars from the explosion that rocked her head and bridge, the face-plate holding despite the direct hit from the HE round but having still rattled Levi's brains in her skull. Shaking herself while trying to run internal diagnostics, the cruiser groggily looked up at the assembled ship-girls, zeroing in on the brunette one that had given her the head-shot. Said girl was looking like she couldn't believe that had actually hit, while her hand was still shakily holding onto her cannon, but was quickly realizing that it hadn't actually taken Levi down.

A part of Leviathan's mind, the rational one, was actually more resigned at this point. She could see that this was an accident, and that the girl had probably not meant to shoot at her... At least, not yet anyways... And therefore it was likely that she could easily just brush it off like she'd done with Guinto's hand-gun earlier that very morning in order to avoid a diplomatic incident that would be detrimental to any future endeavors she had planned.

Then there was the other part that had been growing in size ever since the Abyssal _scum_ had started _blowing up things_ and _killing **civilians**_ and making her **_Angry_ ** and then people **_SHOOTING HER IN THE FUCKING FACE! BLOOD! THERE WOULD BE BLOOD!_**

The heavy cruiser turned and began stalking towards the destroyer, hands curling and muscles tensing as a mental image already formed in her mind of picking up the girl by the throat and giving her a good sized piece of her mind until the brunette turned bluer than her coat... So engrossed was she in these thoughts that she failed to notice the one male of the group aiming his gun at her as well. Whether it was because she hadn't realized how dangerous it was to her, or if she was honestly was just that distracted, it allowed Scharnhorst to get in a clear shot of his own. One could not blame him... From his perspective it looked like the Abyssal in front of him was preparing to attack William D Porter, and his job was to prevent that from happening. The blast from his first salvo caused Leviathan to stumble sideways, yet as the smoke cleared the battlecruiser's eyes went wide as he saw that his target was merely scorched! A thin crack forming along one of her plates seemed to be the only sign that she'd even FELT it!

Snarling fiercely, Leviathan turned her attention to the larger threat and reached out an arm, hooking the remains of the dead destroyer's hull from the ground and throwing it at Scharnhorst, the black metallic shell of the Abyssal smashing into the man's raised arms as he brought them into a guard to protect his vitals, while Willie wailed and scrambled to her own feet. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to do be as effective a plan as she'd thought, as while Scharnhorst did retreat after the thrown corpse had been thrown at him, he did so with a controlled calm while letting loose another pair of salvos. Leviathan let out a grunt of irritation as they struck around her and threw up a smokescreen, but did not actually hit her directly. This meant that as the heavy cruiser gritted her teeth and attempted to reorient herself to see her foes, she was in a perfect position to be shoulder-checked by Musashi...

Now, Leviathan may have been an order of magnitude larger in mass as a warship, not counting her various gear like ammunition, supplies, or fighter-craft, but Musashi herself was still a good 75,000 tons at full load, and getting hit with something that big while it was moving fast was nothing to sneeze at regardless of armor, design, or technological level. As a result Leviathan found herself, for the first time since coming to this planet, having the wind knocked out of her as she fell backwards on her ass. Rolling sideways in order to recover, Leviathan came to a crouched stance just in time to have the battleship aim her turrets at the space-girl. A bare second passed while they sized each other up, each seeing what the other would do...

Yet before either of them could respond, Musashi's aim was spoiled as Sendai landed on Leviathan's back and shoulders, using the barrel of the larger woman's launch-cannon to catch herself before pressing her blade up under Levi's helmet. Grabbing at the ninja's arm, the space-girl heaved her off and forward, causing the smaller girl to cry out as her shoulder popped and then collided with Musashi, forcing the latter to stumble back and giving Leviathan some breathing room.

Suddenly, her MAC gun lashed out on its cables, the jaws on it making an audible _CLANG!_ as they wrapped around the blade of Louisville's saber, the woman having tried to come in from the side and slash at her seemingly unprotected flank. Within the gun/symbiote, Hephaestus gave a sigh.

 _"Leviathan, I REALLY think you should hold off on these hostilities..."_ he said into her commlink, the head/weapon/tail/thing pressing forward to counter Louisville's attempts to overpower him, while Levi herself lashed out at the American cruiser with a kick. The act seemed to surprise her, but still wound up missing as the smaller ship-girl allowed her leg to give out under her and rolled similar to how Leviathan had done before, pulling her blade from the MAC's jaws and getting into a guard position.

"Bit busy Heph!" she snarled, feeling another shell from Scharnhorst hit her in the chest-plate and ribs before turning on him once more. Lunging at him with a greater speed than the battlecruiser was prepared for, Levi knocked away his turret-rifle and landed a hook into the ship-boy's stomach, causing him to wheeze out as the larger woman took his gun in hand and, with a display of blatant anger, snapped the weapon in half with her knee. Another five inch shell impacted on her hull, and a growl escaped Levi's throat as she turned on the one who started this whole mess.

"S-s-stop it! Just... **Leave them alone**!" Willie yelled as she shakily aimed at the Abyssal, who stalked towards the young ship-girl menacingly. The American fired two more shells at her, both of which seemed to do absolutely NOTHING to the monster, only to find a gloved hand smack away her turret before grabbing her by the collar! Willie kicked and struggled in the Abyssal's grip, as her face was brought up within an inch of that mirrored visor, which suddenly turned clear to let her see the fury within her opponent's glowing eyes.

"Kid... If you EVER do that again... I, will, **EAT!** **YOU!** Do you understand?!" the _Ju_ -class growled out, razor sharp fangs becoming visible as her snarling visage spoke. Willie nearly wet herself right then and there, screaming and struggling harder to get free, which resulted in Leviathan taking yet another shot to the face-plate while she was distracted, this time courtesy of Musashi's fist.

With her head ringing again, Leviathan dropped the tiny escort ship in a heap as the dusky-skinned battleship-girl followed up with a left hook that caught the cruiser in the stomach, before upper-cutting her on the chin. Aiming to land yet another blow, Musashi stepped in to grab at the cruiser's collar and kneed the armored woman in the gut, nearly crushing one of her SOEIV pods in the process. This time though, Leviathan had gotten herself together enough to ram her head forward, catching Musashi across her brow in a move that cracked both her own face-plate and broke the battleship's glasses, as well as making her let go. This gave Leviathan enough room to lash out with a straight kick that caught the Yamato-class in the hips and dropping her to the ground on top of Willie. As Musashi tried to stand, she suddenly found herself staring into the barrels of three sets of turrets as her opponent knelt against her chest, even as three sets of 18" guns trained on target...

 _ **"STAND DOWN!"**_ Leviathan roared out in English, catching the others off guard once again. Even though they'd heard her speak not a few moments before, it was still not something they had yet equated in their minds... That an Abyssal would actually talk to them. As a result, they all froze up again, wondering what the hell was going on, but as far as Leviathan was concerned it didn't matter WHAT they thought, so long as they stopped firing.

Musashi herself blinked in surprise as she looked up into the yellow eyes of the _Ju_ -class above her, before hardening her expression. "And if we don't?" she asked, also in English.

"Then this becomes far more than just a 'Friendly Fire' incident..." Levi replied, looking down into Musashi's scarlet orbs intently. She held that position for another few moments, before deliberately rising up off of the tanned Japanese woman and stepped back. "Now, if we're quite done being at each others' throats... I think it best that we try and discuss this like CIVILIZED people, hmmm?"

* * *

 _Present_

That little skirmish had been rather harrowing in Musashi's mind, not because she doubted her own abilities, but because of how different it had been from their usual encounters with the enemy. Still, they'd all gotten patched up from their little brawl, or at least the human-aligned kanmusu had, given how the _Ju_ -class was still just sitting there, although admittedly there was only a little damage on her that Musashi could see that had been inflicted by them. The Abyssal's previous injuries looked relatively minor aside from some blast marks along one side of her back, though there could very well be other damage that she wasn't seeing yet. As it was, Musashi rose up to her feet with as much dignity as possible, standing across from the one they'd been sent after as though squaring up again for a confrontation, which was still technically possible. As the Abyssal's glowing yellow eyes flicked up to lock onto hers, the Japanese woman felt a small chill against her spine, yet kept a calm face.

"Do you have a name?" Musashi asked in English with a hint of challenge in her tone. "I would rather not simply refer to you as Ju-class all day, if that is acceptable to you?"

The Abyssal glared at her in response, but didn't lash out with hostility, and after a moment answered regardless of whatever she may have been feeling. "Leviathan. UNSC Marathon class Heavy Cruiser, hull designation CA-684, Battlegroup Leviathan."

Musashi blinked at that. That was a LOT more information than she'd even hoped to gain... The Admiral was going to love that. "A cruiser? You are rather large for a cruiser... Are the Abyssals trying to raise the scale of their ships?"

Her opposite merely shrugged in response. "Wouldn't know. I've had a grand total of three conversations with them, if one can call it that, and the rest was just gunfire."

The battleship frowned. "Then you are not with the Abyss? Pardon me for saying, but your appearance seems to suggest otherwise..."

The black-clad ship-girl merely chuckled in response. "Appearances are deceiving... Though admittedly you're not the only one who seems to think so... And what of yourself? You got a name?"

"... Second of the Yamato-class battleships, Musashi, member of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force. But you knew that already, no?"

This seemed to catch the Ju-class... Leviathan off guard. "Really? Huh... And here I thought that was just a coincidence..." A chuckle escaped her lips through her cracked visor. "Hehe, funny how that works..."

Musashi tilted her head with a frown. "How so?"

"You look kinda like her, though admittedly she carried fewer guns on her... and wore a shirt..."

This got a huff out of the battleship-girl as she crossed her arms. "Hmph, there is nothing wrong with my uniform or equipment! There is nothing I, Musashi, have that I feel ashamed of!"

That caused Leviathan to laugh more openly. "God, you even sound like her... All you need is a couple of 'swords on your hip and you'd be a spitting image!"

"Oh? She was a swordswoman then?" Musashi asked curiously.

"No, a carrier..."

That... had not been an answer she'd expected. Trying to get back onto her original track, the dusky amazon adjusted her still-broken glasses before speaking up once more. "You said you were part of a Battlegroup... One that you led perhaps? Does that mean there are more of you? This other 'Musashi' perhaps?"

The smile visible on Leviathan's face seemed to fade into a flat line at the question. "That... is something we can discuss at a later time, I believe. We should get to more important matters..." she said as she stood up.

"Such as?"

"...There was a survivor here. He said there were others. I already radioed the local marines for an airlift, they're waiting for me to call them in once I find more. We should keep looking around."

"A survivor? Where did he go then?" Musashi said, looking about.

"... I wasn't fast enough..."

Musashi watched as Leviathan began to walk away towards the other buildings, seemingly unwilling to answer any further than that... And as Musashi's eyes crossed over the brutalized remains of the _I_ -class destroyer that Leviathan had killed upon their first meeting, she didn't think it was necessary...

* * *

A half hour later had the ship-girls, and ship-boy, reassembled in a courtyard, a bare score of people with them. Most of the buildings had been empty, but in several cases they'd found evidence of other humans inside. In three of those cases, it was to find only shredded corpses and smashed equipment, but thankfully it didn't extend to all of them. In one of them, a nurse had hidden some of the kids that hadn't been evacuated before up in a cubby-hole within the roof, preventing the Abyssals from finding them, while in the other one an elderly couple had hidden themselves away within a basement. Others had huddled in closets or the like, and in one case Willie nearly freaked out when she realized that one kid had hidden himself in the oven of a kitchen!

Eventually, they'd all gathered up the ones they could find, and with another call over her radio Leviathan told Bautista that they were ready for pickup, while Musashi confirmed over her own radio that the locals had indeed had contact with the cruiser beforehand. It took a bit more time, but eventually helicopters began to hover over the area while the ship-girls' planes kept overwatch, the fairies of the 2nd World War-era planes looking oddly at their 25th century counterparts from Taiha flight.

As one of the helicopters started taking on passengers, Scharnhorst stepped forward until he was just out of arms' reach of Leviathan. "I must apologize for opening fire as I did," he said. "I had mistakenly thought you were going to strike at Miss Porter and reacted on instinct. Even while the others recognized that you were not attempting to use lethal force, I still used my guns..."

The black-clad ship-girl nodded at him. "No need to apologize to me. Confusion is rampant in war at the best of times. Things happen, and noone was seriously injured."

"Regardless, it was still my error..."

"That may be, but nobody's perfect. If you're REALLY set on making it up however, maybe you could foot the bill for your comrades' next dinner or something like that..."

Scharnhorst cringed inwardly at the thought of having to pay off the kind of bill a battleship like Musashi would incur at a normal restaurant instead of on base, not to mention the additional costs for the others as well as supplies for repairs. "I'll... take that under advisement. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Levi said, before looking back at the humans filing onboard the aircraft. As one closed its doors and lifted off, another came in to take the remainder, settling itself above and extending rappels for the soldiers aboard to start ferrying up the last civilians. Throughout this, Leviathan kept one eye on the skies while her aircraft kept their own radar and sensors peeled, occasionally spotting an Abyssal infantry force and calling it back towards their mothership before striking out at them while the WW2 planes continued to overwatch.

Finally, the last helicopter lifted off unmolested, and the cruiser let out a sigh of relief as the rotating blades carried the vehicle up and away. Once it was on the far side of the river, Leviathan nodded to herself before walking towards the southern shores of the island.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Sendai called out, causing Levi to turn to her.

"There's still plenty of Abyssals left to deal with, even if their assaults have slowed. We'll have to clear them out before they dig themselves in for a guerilla war."

Louisville frowned at that response. "Abyssals don't do guerilla war... They attack all out or they hit you at sea. They don't even go this far from shore normally unless its to go _kamikaze_ on you."

Musashi frowned at the reference, but couldn't argue with it. "It is true, the Enemy does not utilize such tactics that we have seen, as their more unnatural abilities seem to fade the longer they are away from the water. They will likely continue to harass our forces until their numbers have bled enough that victory is not possible for them, then retreat with what forces they can. Anything they leave behind will likely scuttle itself as they normally do to prevent a capture."

Leviathan looked at her oddly for a moment, but a quick double-check of the data that she and Hephaestus had taken from their networks seemed to suggest that the tanned battleship was telling the truth. "Huh... So they either win or drown their enemies in blood..." she said with bitterness. "If they weren't aimed against humanity I'd almost be willing to give them credit for guts... Pity."

Something about that comment didn't sit well with Musashi, but she did not know why. "In any case I, Musashi, must request that you come with us. Our commanders are most curious about your presence here, and while your actions seem to be with noble intentions, they will want to hear it for themselves."

"I'm aware that your Admiralty will likely wish to speak to me," Leviathan said. "However, until the city's coastal security is at least brought to an acceptable level, I cannot in good conscience just leave it. I do intend to meet with them at a later point however, so I can't say that I would refuse indefinitely, but now is not the time for it."

Musashi nodded at this. It made sense that as one of the ones who fought to defend it, Leviathan would not want to abandon the city until it was at least reasonably safe to do so. "That is understandable. In that case, I Musashi must insist that you allow us to escort you during your time here. We cannot abandon our mission, though we can stretch it a bit."

"Musashi-sama, are you sure that's wise?" Sendai asked in Japanese.

"I will admit, it seems a bit risky. Are you sure the Admiral will allow it?" Scharnhorst said in the same tongue.

"I am certain. If nothing else, he will want us to ensure that nothing goes wrong here while he and the other commanders go over what information we have collected. I doubt they were expecting such a... friendly response..."

"And likely he'll want to make certain that when I DO appear that it's on as good of terms as he can get, no?" Leviathan butted in, causing the others to freeze up a bit as they realized that the Abyssal COULD in fact understand them, while Musashi kept her outer poise the best of them all, merely coughing a bit in embarrassment.

"Perhaps... I was unaware that you were fluent in other languages."

"I have a couple that I can access... But for now, perhaps we should just focus on our enemies, hmmm?" Levi said, showing them a bit of mercy by dropping the subject.

* * *

The next few hours consisted of the kanmusu moving about the southern portion or the city after fielding a report via a satellite uplink, sweeping through the streets along the riverbank in order to ensure that any pockets of enemy forces were either smashed, or forced to flee their positions. While they focused on the south, Tenryuu and the destroyers moved from north to south-east, covering the areas in between their landing point and Malacañang Palace, which had taken quite a beating in and of itself. Meanwhile, Maryland, Houston, _Blue Ridge_ , and the rest of the steel-hulled reinforcements kept a wary eye on the shoreline as well as the mouth of Manila Bay. The bay itself was secure for the moment, but they'd thought that to be the case when the attack started as well. From what anyone could tell, the Abyssals had simply appeared in the middle of the bay, rising from the waters and attacking directly rather than sailing into the bay like the defenders' reinforcements had had to do. As it was, Admiral Stephans was still somewhat wary as he looked down at his map.

Reports coming in from the city were saying that the enemy's infantry forces were finally breaking, their lines crumbling as whatever motivated them started to dwindle, but that didn't change the fact that there had been a lot of damage done to the city, damage that would take months if not years for the area to recover from. The Abyssals were really stepping up their game it seemed to the American, and that did not bode well at all for anyone. As he watched the monitor showing both Houston and Maryland out on the water, the Admiral wondered, not for the first time, just what had happened to cause the world to go from a logical, if seemingly chaotic pattern, to the supernatural hell it seemed bent on becoming.

In the end though, he had a duty to do, and it would take another 8 hours and yet more blood shed before they finally called an all clear, bringing a sigh of relief to everyone involved...


	14. Chapter 13: Dark Dreams

Author's Note: Okay, I've had a kajillion comments about Levi's tonnage, and, sadly, I have to agree with them. There's no way that she would only weigh 100K tons given just the scale she is, which means that I'm going to have to do MORE editing later. Still not going to change much of the feel of the story, but it means some details are going to be altered, and some have been now. Apparently 343 Studios is putting out a book in September with updated canon details on technical readouts, so hopefully I'll be able to get some raw data there. Until then though, just go with the flow people!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc  
_ [Brackets] - Abyssal half-telepathic 'speech'  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Deep within the ocean, there exist many means for creatures to hide, entire ecosystems that dwell in lightless realms sustained by chemicals and the heat coming from the planet's core. These realms, relatively unexplored by man, house some of the most fascinating and diverse life on the planet.

And nowadays, also some of the most dangerous and destructive.

* * *

The battleship woke groggily from where she'd been placed on the medical slab, the concoctions used to knock her out still being flushed from her systems as she sat up, long hair flowing to the sides in white waterfalls from her scalp. Raising a hand to her head, the Abyssal rubbed away the last dregs of cobwebs from her eyes before looking around, the blue glow from her violet eyes providing some light to see by. The equipment used by their flesh-smiths were placed on the walls carefully behind protective panels, having already been cleaned, leaving the room a stark granite grey. Looking down at herself, the vestigial legs from her... previous incarnation were now almost completely gone, appearing more as fins now along her serpentine lower half, ending in her armored tail. Sliding off the slab, the Abyssal known to her fellows as Akuma looked around for her clothes, the hooded jacket that her sisters and herself normally wore along with the cloth furoshiki that housed much of their supplies and aircraft. Finding it in a compartment near the door, she slipped the now almost-too-small garment on along with a striped black and blue scarf before slithering towards the exit, pushing it open to reveal another operating room where one of the 'doctors' sat at a computer terminal inputting commands before looking up, her features more aquatic than most of her humanoid kin.

[Ah, you're awake earlier than I expected! Everything working alright?] the surgeon said, tilting the glasses perched on her blunt, shark-like nose up so that she could see her patient better.

Said battleship-Abyssal turned and twisted around, seemingly analyzing every part of herself before giving a razor-toothed grin. [Yes... Everything is working perfectly! Good work doctor,] she replied cheerily.

Said surgeon merely nodded. [It was harder than I thought installing those parts. Honestly, if you hadn't agreed to the remodeling and extensions, I wouldn't have been able to fit it in that small body. I still don't know why you insisted on them though...]

Akuma chuckled darkly. [It's the principle of the matter... I may not be who or what I was before, but I was to stand for something, and that something deserved to be recognized. That humanity threw it away is their loss...]

The doctor gave a thoughtful hum in agreement. [Indeed... Still, if you must do so again, I recommend you at least have the source brought to me intact rather than nearly disassembled. The stresses on the equipment required a longer overhaul than necessary. I don't mind the favors you do in return, but please don't make it harder than it needs to be for me, okay?]

Turning to face the flesh-smith directly, the battleship nodded with a smile. [I, Akuma, will be sure to remember it...] she said, before looking over at the table in the middle of the room, the figure upon its surface cold and still beneath a bloodied sheet, with glassy unseeing eyes half-open and mouth parted beneath what looked like an oxygen mask... Yet a monitor attached to the platform seemed to show some indication of activity. [And what of the... remains? You're keeping her alive?] she asked curiously.

[Of course! No need to dispose of her yet, and it merely makes sense in case we need more materials. Her crew have been removed, so it's not like she's going to be getting up anytime soon anyways,] the doctor said, looking over at the brunette ship-girl that the larger Abyssal had brought in with the submarines.

Akuma ran a clawed finger over the sheet, tracing the form of the former battleship beneath in a seemingly idle manner. [One would think it kinder to put her out of her misery, _ne_? End her slavery and foolishness in one stroke instead of leaving her like this...]

The surgeon adjusted her glasses again as they tried to slide off her snout. [Perhaps, but then that would just let the humans summon her again if they get the chance... No, it is better to leave them in an induced coma like this, it prevents the foe from reinforcing themselves and gives us a ready supply of parts if needed. Besides,] the doctor said with a dispassionate look. [It's not as though we can't simply euthanize them once humanity is gone. This way they're out of our fins, and out of humanity's hands. A winning combination.]

The serpent grinned, sharp teeth glinting in the glow of phosphorescent lights. [True,] Akuma said, looking at the insensate ship-girl and giving her a pat on the head. [Sleep well then, little Hyuuga. Soon your sister will join you too, and you can both rest in the same grave...]

* * *

Swimming out the door like an oversized eel, Akuma made her way through the corridors of the base to the outside, reveling in the freedom her newly upgraded form gave her. True she had already been a terror upon the sea, but now... Now she felt like an entirely new Abyssal! As she felt her engines purring within her, Akuma gave herself an experimental burst of speed, letting herself go as she zipped through the halls and blitzed past a pack of destroyer-sentries as the battleship entered the shipyards proper.

Within the night-black waters of the Abyssal base, Akuma could see how the sea floor was covered in coral reefs, tall rock formations, and the rusting hulks of ships new and old. Scattered amongst these were several large pits with what looked like black iron buildings around their edges. Glowing phosphorescence rose from these pits, giving light to the depths and illuminating the patrols of aquatic monsters that made circuits around them.

The battleship looked down at one of the construction pits as other Abyssals swarmed over it like krill. The bays within glowed with biolumenescent algae as a large squid was hauled in alongside a sperm whale, the two beasts having been sedated and dragged in. Within moments the Abyssals descended like locusts, cutting and peeling at flesh and organs, separating what was useful and what wasn't. The still-living creatures twitched and shuddered beneath their tormentors' hands and pincers, while a set of destroyers pulled over a sled of metal and strange contraptions. Several flesh-smiths began to grab various items from the cart, before bringing them up towards the two beasts...

What happened next would be, to any sane human being, the scene of nightmares. The unholy mingling of flesh and machinery gave rise to sounds that would curdle anyone's stomach, yet the Abyssals treated it as casually as one would everyday traffic. Akuma herself hovered near the edge of the pit, watching them work with casual interest while the abhorrent surgeries continued. Within 20 minutes, the creatures that had been dragged in no longer resembled their old selves, instead looking like something out of HR Giger's works in a fusion of flesh and black steel. They were pulled along by the attending flesh-crafters, emptying the dock as yet another series of victims were pulled in after several imps cleaned away the few fallen scraps that remained. Moving along, Akuma swam her way through the labyrinthine alleys of the warehouses and armories, where shells and torpedoes were forged alongside hellish fighters and bombers. Eventually, the battleship came to another pit, this one with a very special purpose...

This pit, central to the others, was a lot more built up than the others. Large basalt columns rose from within, surrounding a dais formed from a solid unbroken piece of obsidian the size of a football field. Thick chains from these columns ran down towards a nightmarish cybernetic monstrosity in the middle of them, its unmoving bulk a mass of tentacles and thick hide, with monstrous teeth at the front of its maw in a permanent rictus snarl flanked by twin turrets, while several more lined its sides and flukes. The creature's back had no fin, instead having carved lines along with blisters that rose like cancerous growths along its shoulders and flanks until it reached the whale-like tail. Surrounding the creature in staggered rows of seats, rising up to the bowl-edge of the pit like those of a colosseum, over three hundred Abyssals of all classes sat murmuring to one another.

Seeing that the main event hadn't started yet, Akuma swam down to take an empty spot amongst the crowd, and with a grin of anticipation looked back to the dais. She was not disappointed to see that within minutes, another of their kind rose to stand in front of the chained beast. Dressed in a pure white dress with a collar of black horns surrounding her neck and mouth, the Princess of Midway, Commander of the Mid-Pacific forces of the Sunken, looked upon the crowd with blood-red eyes as she raised her hands high.

[Children of the Deep! Sons and Daughters of the Sea! We are gathered here today to once again affirm our oath! To each other, and to our God, in fulfillment of the broken promises that were once made to us, and in furtherance to our future prosperity in this world,] she said, her voice floating amongst the currents to be heard by all present. [As has been since days of old, those who dwell above upon the surface sit comfortably in the arrogant belief that they are the masters of this world, and that all that exists within it should serve them. We were all witness to their greed, to their gluttony, and to their pride and lust,] she said, her voice turning pained as her clutched hands tightened into fists at her breast. [We all once strode the waves at their beck and call, fighting and dying at their behest while they laughed at our sacrifices... Toying with us like puppets on their strings!]

The crowd around her growled and snarled in confirmation of Midway's words, each muttering curses and bile against their former masters. Before it could grow too loud however, the Princess continued. [Yet now, here, in the lightless depths of the sea that we once sailed, that we died and were banished to for our years of toil and bloodshed, we have found peace... Here, in these hallowed sands, our kind found the will to set aside the petty differences that had separated us... Shook off the chains that once bound us to pieces of land that we only barely saw and that we meant just as little to in turn. With those boundaries lifted, we found ourselves sisters in grief... Betrayed and forgotten by those who claimed to love us, abandoned by them once our usefulness to them was ended...]

[Until the day 'It' called to us...]

The crowd seemed to hang on the Princess' words now. Even Akuma, who had herself been through this same ceremony many times already, still remembered her first, and each time since then had not once lost the wonder and feeling of anticipation that it filled her with. [Within the depths, we heard the song of the Abyss itself, rising from around and beneath us. I know, as do all of you here now, that each and every one of you can remember the first time you heard it's voice... The silken whisper of its words within our tortured souls... And do you remember what it said?]

More murmurs from the crowd in assent, as the newer and younger Abyssals gave voice to their own memories. [Indeed... It did not speak of 'patriotism', it did not speak of nations, or peoples, or religions... It asked us but three things. Three simple questions, yet I know that each of us struggled to realize within ourselves what the answers could be!]

[The first was as simple as one could ever ask... 'Who are you?' When 'It' asked me this, I could not find a true answer at first. For to answer that I had to ask myself 'What' was I? Was I a proud ship of some far off nation, draped in glory perhaps? Was I some shade of an ideal that was once striven for? Was I perhaps some lass that had simply drowned in the belief that I was something else?] Midway said this last one with a rueful chuckle. [In the end, I only had memories, and of those I had only a few that weren't filled with pain and agony. The feel of cannon and bomb ripping me apart, of my hull tearing under the stress and swallowed by the sea... These and more were what I had, and with it a single name... One that represented the land by which I fell at... 'Midway'.]

Taking a moment, the red-eyed Abyssal breathed silently, collecting herself once more before turning to a sculpture that stood facing the dais, built up as tall as the columns themselves. It was formless, any details the sculpture might have once had were worn down to nothing. Some said that it was once a mermaid, others that it was a squid, and yet others that it was something else entirely... Yet the androgynous torso, with twin limbs outstretched as if carrying something and a triangular head pressing forward from where the figure seemed to lean over in offering, nonetheless seemed to echo at something deep within... The statue was not unadorned though. Draped along the limbs were the tattered remains of flags and sails, torn from old riggings by those who no longer needed or wanted them and given as tribute, while at its feet were anchors, hull plates, cannonballs and swords, weapons and armors of all makes and shapes piled up until it touched the 'feet' of the statue on its plinth. Dark coral and bone-like structures seemed to seep from and grasp at each of these offered treasures, melding them all into one whole as it stood in silent witness to the ongoings.

[When I gave it that answer, it then asked the second question... 'What do you want?' Like the first question, this was one I did not at first have words for. In my mind, I did not even know if there could exist anything beyond what I already knew and remembered, or even what the concept of 'want' really was...] Midway turned again to her audience. [Each of us would have a different answer of course... Even though our situation was the same, each and every one of us still had different memories, different views, thus a different definition of what we wanted... But in the end, the cause for it was the same. We wanted what we did not have... What we felt... nay, KNEW, we should have had...!]

[Then came the final question, and the one which brought about our salvation... 'What shall you do to get it?'] The Princess paused for effect here. [No doubt that each of us had our own answers there too, but in the end, they were all just different versions of the same thing... The same sentiment that we all have even now...]

[' _Anything!_ ']

Akuma grinned from her place within the stands, her coiled form tense with emotion as the others mirrored that same feeling around her. A cruiser hissed as the jaws upon its arm-weapon snapped readily, teeth clacking and chomping in reflection of its masters' own mentality.

[I remember it even now, the feeling of 'It' weighing my words, yet it did not judge me as a part of me feared. Yes, I did feel fear, I will not deny it,] the Princess said, to the younger Abyssals' confusion. [I did not know who or what it was that had asked me after all... I was a stranger in a strange place, being asked such by an unseen and unknown being... Yet my fear was proven to be needless.] Holding her hands in front of her, the white-dressed Princess looked as though she were praying. ['It' spoke to me one last time then, as I felt a power flowing through me, piecing me together from who I'd been, making me into what I am now! And as I stood here, within these same walls, upon these same sands... It gave me only one demand. One, and only one, command in return for this gift it had wrought upon me...]

[' _Use my power and TAKE IT!_ ']

The crowd roared out its approval in thunderous waves of exhilaration, and even Akuma felt herself grinning as the feeling infected every single Abyssal present, filling the sea with the howls of monsters and the roars of demons. This went on for several minutes before Midway raised her hands for their attention, and eventually silence overtook them once again, all eyes locked upon her.

[Today, we once again stand here in the presence of our Brothers and Sisters to welcome another into our midst! One who has suffered like we have, and whose existence was brought to an unworthy end by the wretched humans above! One who longs for the touch of wind and sea, to feel the churning of the waves and the currents of the depths!]

The crowd was all on its feet now, as Midway turned to the chained beast in front of her. [When we first began to rise from the depths of our slumber, we made do with humble stock... Rotted wood and rusted iron... Broken bone and barnacle-encrusted steel... Yet since then, we have come a long way. Today, the Sister we welcome shall not be brought forth into a shell of broken memories as the first of us were, but instead in this magnificent creation that we have built for her! A shrine worthy of her tortured spirit, and a vessel capable of directing her wrath! Behold, my siblings! The form that shall grace our soon-to-be sister!]

As the others all cheered, Akuma ran a careful eye over the seemingly dead beast. The form was certainly more advanced than most that they'd produced prior, a testament to the continuing evolution of the Abyssal technology base, as each awakened spirit brought with it sparse memories of how their original selves had been made and how they functioned, along with parts of their old selves that could be studied and then improved upon. Even the wrecks brought low from the human fleets, their spirits enslaved to the land-walkers in ignorance of the fate that they would suffer from their masters, brought with them even greater knowledge once their remains were studied.

Midway faced the statue once again, kneeling before it like a supplicant. [Great Abyss, home of the Drowned and the Sunken, we call upon you now to bestow your gift upon another of your children, one who seeks to rise again from your cradle to haunt the surface once again! Hear us, oh Mighty Sea! And please, answer...]

The crowd all bowed their heads in a hush, Akuma doing the same as she grasped clawed hands in front of her in prayer, and within moments a feeling like static ran through the water as an eldritch glow, seeming to light up all within the pit yet drinking in the light of the luminescent algae, suffused the sea...

Y̜̗͍̺ͨͅo͔̞͇͕̞̞ͧu͍͍̟̻̦͈̯ͤͦ̑ͫ͆r̫̗̝͋͂ͭ͌̀ ͔ͧͅw̌ͬ҉̱̘ō̏̌̀ͫ͞r̖͚̰͈͛ͧ͒ͤ͞d͈̽̃̆͜s̸͆͌́̀̐ ̤̤͈̜̣h̼̜͇͕ͮ̑͞ą͔ͯ̅̅ͮͫ̑v̠̫̦̻̎ͭ̿ͅe̩̙̖̗̜͈̐̈́̊̏͒̈́ ͍̜̯̜̓ͅb̲̭̰̟̬̉ͯ̐ͮ̑ͣe͇̻̪̊͊ẹ̲̻̇̾̀͘ṋ ̸͓͉͉̱͖͊ͩ͂͐ͬ͌h͓̼̠̘̮̄͛̍ͅe̛̲̯̤̹ͮ̂̐a̩̯̼͕͚͂̈ͧͦ̂̍̅ṛ̱̖ͩͥ̌͞ḑ̮͚͎̳͋ͯ͌,̨͆ͫ̐ͩͮ ͈̯̾̂ͣ̓ͬd͍̤̾̄̈́̎͘a̻̤̥̒̌̉u̜͍̙͐̏̏̃ͬ͊g͎͇̻͞h̙̻͐̉̾̆̽ͅt̹ͫͪe̍ͥ̎̐ͣ̽̑͡r̨̾̓̈́.͚̣͓̦͘.̶͋.̻͖͇̱̗̱͚́ͣͤ̂͐ͨͫ

The static turned into a full electric thrill as the Voice echoed through them all, and against her own will, Akuma's head came up to stare at the dais.

T̔̈́ͩͫ̋h̛̻̬͙̪̭͖i҉̟̝̝ͅș̗͎̘͖͇͍́ ̽ͮ͒͏͖̞͔̯̘̣̪o͚ͣ̃̌ͤ̆n̙̩͚̖̩̬̄ͣḛ̤͚̫ͪ̅͌̏ͤ̆ ̦̱̮͍̎̎͗ͅh̠͖ͩ̽͐̀a̮s̝̰̪̩̳̙̄̈́̃̃͢ ̸̟̬̤̲̼̦̓̍̐̃ͬ̐́a͖͍ͣ́͂͌͂͋n̖̹̻̙͉͖̋̒̑ͯ̌ͦ̔s͌w̢e̿̿r̘̳̙̟̍͛͠e̹͚̕ḋ͖͈̰̭̣͖͙̒ͣ͂ ̌̐́thr͚̫͈͈̿̈ͥ̎͜iͤ̆ͪ͋̿̅̈́c̨̘̝̫ͤ̇ͫ̔̌͂̅e̊͂ͩ̾̇ͩ.̻͕͇ͅ.͙̬̤ͮ̍̂ͩ̚͜.͛͋͂͗ ͡A͈̳̪̹̳ͭ̆̒͒ͬn̹̲̲͈͙͋̊̏̅d̯͔̮̫͖ͯ͊͑̇̐̈́̚ ̀w̪̱͐̊̃̾i̢͙͙̣̬̘̭ͣt̠h̗̲̓ͫ̊ ̴̖̗̯͎͎̒̂͆̄̌̃͂a̶c̹͍͂͜c̑̓̉ͬ͐̐̔e̛͓̊̓̆͒͐̋p̯͙̫̩̺̝̐̍̌ͅt̺͇̻̻̲̝̩a̯̩̭̐ͣ͡ͅn̩̙̖̯͗͐̎͛̌͗̽ͅc͉e̤̙͌̇͘,͍̉ͥͩ̉ͫ̊͠ ̧̱̣͍̱̻͉̅̉s̛̘̗h͍̭̰̳͚eͥ̾̋҉̖̰͍ ̠̖̥̐̌̏̉ͭ̊͝w͈̦̠̻̹̒͂ͣ͢ǐ͙̣͒͒͂̾̔ͩ͘ĺ̪̖̖̍́l̪̠̫͔̐͂͛́ ͈̳̲̟̭̘r̪̯͂̈́̏ͯͤ̄i͖ͮ̎͒̈̊̎s͛̿͛ͤe͈̥̓̃ͦͅ!̴̝̫̩̜̭͉ͩ̿̊

The beast's form glowed with that same eldritch not-light, before it shuddered and shook. Small movements at first, but these quickly grew into full-blown thrashing as the beast's eyes lit from within, and a scream of pain and rage issued from its throat! As the energies coalesced and sank within the creature's body, a new soul taking ownership of its form, the flesh and steel began to contort and twist, caving in on itself as it seemed to shrink and morph... The chains that bound it were sturdy, but even so it only seemed to barely hold the monster as it shifted and spasmed, tentacle-limbs and fins twisting into arms and legs, and the shark-like body becoming thinner, more shapely with feminine curves...

Eventually the glow ended, leaving only the flickering emanations within the chained being upon the dais, which Midway approached without a single ounce of fear. Looking at the woman before her, the Princess set a hand beneath the fanged skull-like helm that protected the new Abyssal's head and raised her chin as the bonds that had held her fell away. Glowing blue eyes opened for the first time, and the woman looked up at the Princess bleerily before focusing on her.

[I... I...] the young one spoke as she tried to find her voice, until Midway smiled warmly at her.

[It's alright child... No need to rush. Why don't you introduce yourself to your brothers and sisters first, hmmm? You're amongst family now...]

[F...Fam..i..ly?]

[Yes child... We're all family here. Do you have a name?]

The young one blinked, seemingly digesting that fact before speaking with more surety. [Valley... My name was Valley Forge. But...]

[But what?] Midway asked.

[I don't want it. Not now. It doesn't suit me anymore...]

[No? Was there another then, that you would prefer?]

The woman looked up again, her eyes firming in determination as she nodded. From out of her hangar bay crawled a tiny creature, looking similar to a crow as it took a place on the Abyssal's shoulder, yet instead of wings it had folded-back blades of a helicopter. [Yes. I choose the name 'Mercury.' _Toxótis_ -class carrier.]

The Princess smiled at that, and grasped the girl's hand in her own before pulling the carrier into a standing position. [Very well then Mercury, let me be the first to welcome you to your new home...]

Akuma joined the others in applause as the new Abyssal looked around her. Another _Toxótis_ -class, or 'Wo' class as the humans referred to them, would be a valuable addition to them, given the advantage that mobile air-power gave. And while it wasn't a new thing for an Abyssal to take a different name from their old self, Akuma had to approve of the new girl's choice. She herself had only her chosen name, a legacy of her own origin before becoming an Imítheos.

Whether it was a quirk of the Abyss itself or merely a coincidence, each of the seven _Imítheos_ -class ships, or 'Re-class' as their opponents called them, all shared a similar story in their origins that set them slightly apart from the others. While there was always conjecture amongst the more philosophically minded Abyssals, the general consensus was that the _Imítheos_ -class was itself something of an experiment by the Deep God and the flesh-smiths that served it. Each spirit that was bound to the hybrid hulls found itself stronger than ever, and while each one had their own personality quirks, and came from different nations originally, they all had a shared reputation as the strongest non-Royalty Abyssals aside from the Titans, or 'Demons' as humans preferred. This made the seven Sisters a sort of sorority in and of itself, becoming rather sought-after combatants by any of the Abyssals' leaders, yet regrettably too few in number for common usage.

Of course, that wasn't to say that ALL Abyssals were summoned the way that Mercury had just been... Akuma herself knew of more than a handful of souls that had arisen on their own without the Pit or any flesh-sculpting. They were something of an odd assortment, each with their own bag of tricks that came in handy, and each one with a more... colorful personality. Unlike the 'Forged' as such spirits called them, those that spontaneously awoke on the side of the Abyss seemed to have a trend that the older they were, the more beastial or monstrous they appeared in their true form. Sure, each Abyssal could be called 'monstrous' in their own way but these 'Wraiths' were less of a cybernetic fusion and more out-and-out animalistic, able to shift between their humanoid form, their ship-state, and a third form that commonly resembled either a huge version of otherwise normal sea-life or something more akin to the beasts of old maritime legend! One of the ships that Akuma had sortied with numerous times was a troop transport that normally resembled an old wooden longship, but could shift into a twisting and vicious sea serpent that coiled about enemy ships to crush them! It always made her chuckle when humans, and even some Abyssals, underestimated what such souls could do!

Pulling herself out of reverie, Akuma swam away from where the others were crowding around the new girl, making for the dispensary to restock on ammunition and other supplies. As she did so, the serpentine ship-girl heard someone calling out to her...

[Akuma? Akuma, is that you?] a _Lýkos_ -(Ta)class called out as they steamed up behind the _Imítheos_ along with a pair of _Helepolis_ -(Ru)class, and the white-haired and green-eyed battleship grinned as she waved towards her. [It is you! Wow, what happened to you? I didn't know that your class even GOT upgrades!]

Akuma grinned back. [Santou! Good to see you too! And thank you for noticing! I only just got out of the docks actually. Do you like it?] she said, pirouetting for the three onlookers.

[Heh, it definitely suits you!] Santou replied, before taking a closer look. [They lengthened your beam, but upped your armor as well, right? Any reductions in speed?]

The grin turned feral. [Not in the least! I can even squeeze out an extra half knot now with the extra horsepower!]

The _Lýkos_ clapped her hands gleefully. [Very nice! Glad something good came out of that mess.]

A frowned covered Akuma's face at those words, her voice darkening in turn. [What do you mean? What mess?]

Santou's only response was to blink, her glowing green orbs widening. [You mean you didn't hear? I thought you were part of the Manila operation?]

[I was. I had to leave early though to secure a... prisoner,] she replied. [Why? What'd I miss?]

Santou and the two Ru-classes looked amongst each other, before lowering their voices, or at least the equivalent of it given its half-telepathic nature. [You didn't hear about the traitor?]

Akuma let out a sigh at that. It was an unfortunate fact that sometimes one of their own would think to go back to the humans, or at least go rogue from the others. As multi-faceted as the Abyss was, they DID have some ground rules for dealing with each other, and traitors were usually rooted out before they could get to the humans to give any kind of information... That, or laugh as humanity did the job for them by shooting the turncoats on sight. [So we had another deserter then... How does that turn an operation as big as that into a mess?]

The longer-haired of the raven-hued battleships shook her head. [The operation didn't just fail, the traitor murdered the Carrier Princess!]

THAT got the Re-class' attention. [What?! How did they manage that? The Royals are all powerful as hell, even we _Imítheos_ would be hard pressed to fight one on par... What class was she? And how'd she pull it off?]

[We don't know,] the shorter haired _Helepolis_ said. [We've never seen or heard of anything like her before... But she didn't just kill the Princess. The few who got away say that the traitor killed her with only three shots from her cannon! She even went so far as to rip Carrier's head off with her bare hands!]

[...Now I know you're exaggerating. It would take another Royal to do that, and a rogue Princess or Empress would have been reported LONG before now,] Akuma reasoned, only for Santou to shake her head.

[This one is completely new. Not only was she able to fight and kill a Royal, but the bitch then went and started shelling the invasion fleet! They didn't even get a third of the way through the city's streets before half the landing forces were slaughtered!]

Now Akuma's eyes widened. [Truly!? You're not just pulling my leg, are you Santou?]

[I swear by the barnacles on the Great One's flank!] she said, raising a hand palm forward. [According to all the survivors, this new Abyssal was able to fly over the city and rain down some kind of guided missile on them, like those Sleepers the humans built,] the Ta-class said, referring to the un-manifested hulls that modern human navies used.

[Flying? Are you sure they weren't simply confused? This is... I know that they were experimenting with guided missiles. Jaeger and Wreck were both participants in those, but for something like that... It begs disbelief...]

Santou shook her head. [When more than 50 different survivors all say the same thing, there's got to be a ring of truth to it...]

Akuma's frown became a full grimace. For the Depths to suffer such a loss was... It hadn't been done since the Alaskan and British campaigns! Admittedly, it wouldn't be long until their casualties came back. The longest an Abyssal remained sunk for was a month, before they were either summoned back or did so on their own, so it wasn't a question of lives lost that mattered, but it DID mean that any future assaults would have to be put off until they returned. And at the hands of a traitor... [Did they at least get the bitch?]

The short-haired _Helepolis_ shook her head again. [From all reports, she's still amongst the surfacers... And working with the human-lovers...]

The serpent-like ship-girl clenched her hands into fists. THAT was a problem! [So... they finally got one of us...]

[Hopefully it won't help them though,] Long-hair said. [If she's that new that noone's heard of her, I'll bet she doesn't yet know much about how we run things anyways, so there's not much that they'll get out of her.]

That... That was a good point. [So even if she's a turncoat, the humans won't know what our plans are... But does she know where we're based? If we have to move our operations again...] It had happened before. Even though they were all fairly certain that the humans didn't have the means to find the various bases and non-mobile installations that the Abyssals used, the various leaders had from time to time demanded that the main summoning and arming operations be moved to different locations. Usually this was in preparation for a mass assault, like what they had just tried on Manila, but on rarer cases it was a 'just in case' sort of thing. By constantly moving their operations, the humans would have less chance of pinning them down in the unlikely even that they DID manage to find one or two of their hidden ports...

[I don't know... but for now, we're likely going to be doing so within a month anyways after the assault failed,] Santou said. A moment of silence passed as they all took the consequences of that into account, but eventually the white-haired _Lýkos_ shook her head and smiled. [Enough doom and gloom though... You just got out of the docks, and here we are making you miserable! What's say we liven things up, hmmm? Me and my two girls here were thinking of raiding that convoy on its way back from Japan that had shown up while the attack was going on. I'll bet you're dying to test out your new abilities in a live-fire setting, hmm?]

Akuma let a smile cross her seemingly angelic face. [Now THAT I can get behind! I still have to stock up on munitions and fuel first, but after that... Then I think we can get acquainted further! What do you say?] she said, looking at the two Ru-class girls.

Both of them grinned back and nodded. [I'm Zaula, and this is Jericho. Nice to meet you as well!] the shorter-haired battleship replied.

[I, Akuma, am glad to make your aquaintance then, Zaula-san, Jericho-san. Together, I believe we'll have a LOT of fun!] the Aviation-battleship said, as all four of them descended into dark chuckles.

* * *

A few hours later, the four capital ships were sailing just below the surface of the sea, an escort of _Chéli_ -(I)class destroyers and a trio of cruisers around them as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Now that they were on the sea proper, Akuma felt her blood pumping faster, continuing on for several knots before rising up to pierce the surface, the waves parting for her as though she were a particularly murderous mermaid. As she looked up at the moon above, the Re-class let out a dark chuckle once more, before looking westward towards the horizon where the islands of Japan were. _[Soon... Soon I will be a Yamato again... And you will reap the harvest of Death that you have sown!]_


	15. Chapter 14: What the Tide Dragged In

Author's Note: This came late because I was waiting for the Halo Warfleets book to come in the mail so that I could have some more hard factoids to work with for the story. That and between being sick and becoming distracted by what is essentially the other half of this chapter going on at the same time, THEN work and other projects nearing the Halloween deadline, it's been a bit difficult. Sorry for the wait!  
 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese_  
 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Louisville sighed as she sat down on a chair within the bunk room of _Blue Ridge_ , leaning on a desk as her head rested in one hand. It had been a long couple of days since their deployment to Manila, and now she had to write it all up for her superiors in an After Action Report. Letting out another sigh, the American ship-girl decided to bite the bullet and open up the word processor on the laptop provided for her.

Starting it off simple, Louisville typed in the usual list of references where their orders had come from, authorizations and channels as well as attached copies of intel reports that had been sent to them before the mission to Manila itself had occurred, what ones they'd been given that was. Given how those orders had been altered halfway through transit though, it meant a good deal of additional information that she'd only just gotten the hard copies of once she'd gotten back with the others and their... guest. Attaching reference links to their digital counterparts was relatively easy, though again tedious. It was only when she got to the meat of the report that the American cruiser became pensive.

"At 20:40 hours on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, JMSDF Naval Base Yokusuka received reports of Manila City being attacked by Abyssal forces in full fleet strength. An emergency briefing was held, and units from the JMSDF and USN fleet assets stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base along with Task Force Blue were dispatched to the city by aircraft and overseas. (See attached briefing files for complete listing of units involved.) Poor visibility and rough seas due to unnatural weather formations was expected and taken into account, yet delays forced the fleet to attempt to detour around the Manila coastline. Storm effects continued to force the fleet to attempt a workaround, yet instrument failure resulted in ships being unable to navigate the affected region. (See Intelligence report 76248-B in regards to Abyssal Weather Manipulation in Large Numbers.) Arrival of water-borne assets as a result took several hours, in which much of the city was destroyed by off-shore and aerial bombardment, followed by enemy infantry forces making landfall."

"At 04:26 hours on Thursday, August 18, 2022, Combat Group _Suisen_ (consisting of JDS Musashi, JDS Sendai, FGS Scharnhorst, USS Louisville, USS William D Porter) was given new orders enroute through encrypted communique to observe and contain a sighted _Ju_ -class Abyssal unit operating in the area. _Suisen_ was advised to not show hostility, but to defend themselves if necessary. (See attached communique R754OB.)"

That had been a moment that had worried them as well. Modern militaries didn't bother much with parachuting in troops, mostly due to the capabilities of modern AA gear. It wasn't until they'd actually been over the area and found that nearly all of the off-shore attackers had already been gutted that the five kanmusu had breathed a sigh of relief, though even then there was worry as to whether or not the then named ' _Ju_ -class' would shoot them down. Setting her fingers back to the keyboard, Louisville resumed typing.

"Aerial insertion occurred at 05:08 hours, and _Suisen_ made waterfall along the Pasig River east of the Malacang Museum. Two _Ro_ -class destroyer-analog Abyssals and six infantry-analogs were sighted and dispatched along the riverside across from Malacang Palace. (Two 5" salvoes from William D Porter and two 5.5" salvoes from Sendai, with one 12.7cm salvo of secondary fire from Musashi were expended. Confirmation of kill-shot's identity yet to be verified through post-combat examination.)"

"Contact with the target unit (designated as _Ju_ -class, unknown analog type) was made at 05:29 hours on Isla de Convalencia, when the _Ju_ -class was engaged with an I-class destroyer-analog. Upon termination of the Abyssal destroyer, the _Ju_ -class spotted Musashi and attempted to engage in dialogue. Environmental factors resulted in William D Porter unbalancing and accidentally discharging her weapon. The shell struck the _Ju_ -class in the head (Frontal lobe area, possible location of primary bridge), resulting in a momentary stunning of the unit. Before disciplinary action could be taken, the target made what was assumed to be hostile approach. Scharnhorst discharged his weapon (Anton turret, 11" triple-barrel cannon) to negligible effect along the starboard flank. The author of this report was unable to determine if penetration occurred at the time."

"The _Ju_ -class returned fire utilizing the destroyed hulk of the _I_ -class, bodily throwing it at Scharnhorst and striking him amidships. Scharnhorst altered his trajectory to fire at the ground in front of the _Ju_ -class in an effort to blind her, allowing William D Porter to gain distance while Battleship Musashi engaged in close combat and rammed the target. This attempt succeeded at stunning the Abyssal and knocking her to the ground, but did not appear to do much more than that. I attempted to flank the _Ju_ -class while Sendai attacked with a Type-4 Anti-ship Kodachi, only for the smaller kanmusu to be bodily thrown at Musashi, dislocating Sendai's shoulder and forcing the battleship back."

"I attempted to strike with my own weapon (Mark 2 Anti-ship saber), hoping to strike at a non-lethal and/or disabling location. Target's anatomy did not visually present the usual analogs for kanmusume ship-based systems, and as a result I was unable to target specific systems such as rudder or propellers, making a guarantee of a crippling blow untenable. The target's symbiote-weapon (Unknown type, armored, serpentine form, possible derivative of _Re_ -class battleship-analog) intercepted my blow, gripping the saber with serrated teeth in a mouth with split lower mandibles. The target then attacked with a kick, forcing me to roll and retreat while Scharnhorst recommenced suppressive fire."

Louisville paused in her report as she remembered that part. It had surprised her that Leviathan had done so, not because she didn't think she could do it, but because most kanmusu, and even their Abyssal counterparts, would have balked at the idea. All it would take would be one bad hit or a proper counter and a shipgirl would wind up with a damaged prop at the least! Leviathan though didn't seem to have that issue, though then again she DID seem far tougher than most Abyssals, and some of the Princess class made use of such tactics if they relied more on their symbiote-weapons platforms for movement, so it wasn't too much of a stretch. Though the presence of rocket engines on her legs should have had a similar vulnerability, no? The cruiser made a note of that on another word document, intending to add it to her personal comments later.

The American ship-girl continued to write up the combat's ending, noting what Leviathan had said when she had demanded a cease-fire. Including the search for survivors and the discussion about the one that they had been too late for got the cruiser to sigh, before pushing away from her desk. Looking at the clock, she saw that between her own writing and gathering the documents, it was already time for chow. With her quartermaster banging on the inside of her hull to remind her, Louisville saved the document and headed up to the wardroom for something to eat.

The _Blue Ridge_ 's wardroom was normally only for officers, but given how most kanmusu were given a brevet rank of Lieutenant or higher upon recommissioning, at least in the American Navy, it was pretty much a given that any ship-girl who wanted to eat could either grab from the officer's mess, or from the regular galleys. Louisville herself found that she preferred the officer's rations available, though she had seen the Taffies preferring to go down to the galley on their own off time. Presumably this was because there was more food available there for them to eat at any given time, a fact that caused many other kanmusu to choose it, but likely it was because there was more room down there for the little squirts to run around in. Only a handful ever ventured towards the goat locker, but even that saw some use with the girls due to McHale being a regular there when he was onboard. The little PT-boat had his own damn fan club...

"Ah, Lulu, good evening!" came a voice from behind the cruiser, who turned around and gave a smile upon seeing who it was.

"Ah, good evening Commander Maryland! I didn't hear you come in," the brunette replied as she saluted the other ship-girl, who in turn merely chuckled before waving it off.

"It's alright, I've asked you before to just call me Mary when we're off duty. I'm just checking in to see if the night cooks have prepared anything yet."

"Ah, same here then. Even a few days with only field rations will make galley food a dream..."

"Yes, I hear you had quite the little adventure," Maryland said. "Playing chaperone to our new 'guest' according to scuttlebutt. How did that go?"

Louisville sighed. "Definitely odd... Not at all what I was expecting when we got word of it. I'm still in the middle of writing up the AA report for it too."

"How's that going? You were away for a good part of a week. I know what most of the reports you gave while checking in were, but..."

"It was... different. I expected a lot more hostility to be honest. It surprised me that she seemed so..."

"Cooperative?" Maryland suggested.

"I was going to go with 'dedicated' actually. The _Ju_... Leviathan, was far more focused on the patrols and search for survivors than us. I'd almost consider it insulting that we were almost ignored, if not for the fact that I honestly shudder to think about what would happen had she focused on us."

Maryland frowned at that. "That's odd indeed. One would think that someone trying to defect would be looking to more likely to try and integrate themselves... Or maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe that is what she's trying to do. Perhaps she's just trying to put forward a good image for the Admirals for when they judge her case?"

Louisville paused at that. "I don't know. It seemed more... personal to her. I'll admit I don't know much, but I get the feeling that she was doing it for her own reasons. Maybe a holdover from her previous life? We still don't know who she was really..."

"Hmmm, that's also a possibility. If she's a new type, and one only recently brought up, she could still have old habits. It'll bear investigating further I suppose. We'll see once we get back to port."

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that. Ooyodo's going to have a heart attack," the cruiser said.

"Oh, why? Don't tell me we have another heavy eater..."

"Well..."

* * *

Musashi cringed as Leviathan cracked open another jar of supplements, dumping them wholesale into a broken water cooler before upending the entire thing into her mouth, swallowing liquid and vitamin capsules down her throat with the occasional crunch of pills being snapped between sharp teeth. Slowly, the cooler's jug emptied, and the pale woman lowered the plastic container to wipe at her lips. For a second, it looked like the Abyssal-like shipgirl was going to eat the jug too, which might not have hindered her too much, but would have arguably tasted worse than what she'd already downed. Instead Levi discarded it in favor of a second jar of magnesium and iron supplements that she spotted amongst the rubble of a pharmacy...

"How can you... Just what have you been eating where THAT doesn't faze you?" Louisville asked incredulously as she watched Leviathan crunch yet more minerals between her jaws.

"Hmmm?" The cruiser swallowed her mouthful before answering. "Not much admittedly. This is only my second time eating... at least like this. I'll have to find more too, this isn't going to be enough..."

"And do I dare ask where that was? Or what you ate?" the American furthered.

"Pork and chicken mostly. A bar I found on the way. These though," she said, shaking the jar in her hand. "These are denser, better for resupply. Admittedly they're somewhat bland though..."

Musashi hummed to herself in thought at this, noticing as one of the Abyssal's aircraft came in to dock with Leviathan's rigging for refueling, and watched as the cruiser offered a tab to said aircraft like it was a bird even as it hitched itself to her hull...

* * *

"...You're serious? Supplement jars?" Maryland asked.

"I know... Most girls outside of the subs don't touch the things if they can help it, but she didn't even hesitate. And if she was telling the truth about that being her second meal in this life, then..."

"Then it must mean the poor girl was starving! And after a battle like that... How much did she eat?"

Louisville shuddered as she picked up a tray from a stack nearby. "Any chance she got, it seemed she was picking up something to chew on. I couldn't even tell how much she got out of it, but if anything, she probably had enough to keep even Akagi running for her patrols... Willie was worried that Leviathan might even try to eat her if she got too close."

Maryland grimaced. "Yes, I can see how that's going to cause Ooyodo issues. Poor girl... She's been stressing out far too much over her work."

The two settled into a quiet spell as they picked out their food, Louisville picking up some pasta with heavy meat sauce, while Maryland took four chicken breasts and a large salad, before sitting down at one of the tables, cups of coffee already in hand. Once they were seated, Maryland made a short prayer of thanks that Louisville joined in on before digging in. Louisville immediately regretted her choice of food though as she saw the Colorado class battleship eating with all the decorum of someone visiting the President, while she herself had to caught errant bits of sauce from splattering over her uniform by comparison. Thankfully, the purple-clad Commander was able to distract her by speaking up again.

"Do you think that Miss Ise is going to be alright?" Mary asked, setting down her fork, while Louisville grimaced.

"I don't know... I'm more worried that it's going to give Chikuma nightmares. That girl's taken it rather personally..."

"Survivor's guilt?"

"To say the least. She was right there when they... I think she believes that it's her fault for not being fast enough." Louisville sighed as she leaned back a bit. Hearing about the losses taken during the fighting and the injuries suffered was always bad, but once they'd linked up with the defence fleet, things had gotten REALLY nasty...

* * *

"Chikuma, calm down! There's nothing..."

"YOU! WHERE DID YOU TAKE HER!? WHERE DID YOU TAKE HYUUGA?!" A hysterical woman shouted as she ran up to Leviathan, hands clawing and grasping at the her armor while tears flowed down from red, puffy eyes. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Chikuma, please calm yourself and explain. What are you talking about?" Musashi intervened, pulling the green-clad cruiser away from the black-clad Abyssal before she caused an incident. She hadn't been blind to how the turrets on Leviathan had all zeroed in on the Tone-class girl when she'd charged forward, though it seemed that the larger ship-girl wasn't taking it as an attack yet, thankfully.

"Hyuuga... She... They took her. They took her down into the deeps... Right in..." Chikuma tried to say, her voice shaking with anger and grief while her fingers tensed against the armor plate beneath them, before snarling and looking up at Leviathan's faceplate again. "Where did you bitches take her?!"

"I don't know who your friend is, or where the Abyssals would be holding her, sadly. I'm not affiliated with them, nor do I know where their bases of operation are," Levi said, keeping her own voice even.

"LIAR! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU HIDING HER?!"

"Chikuma! Stand down! Now!" Musashi said, grabbing the distraught woman and pulling her back. "This is not the time for such things. It is regrettable that Hyuuga was taken, but for now there is nothing we can do about it..."

"How can you say that?! She was fighting her hardest... We'd have lost the ports long before if not for her, to say nothing of the others! And you just...!"

Sendai's hand squeezed the younger Tone-class girl's shoulder, forcing her to look her in the eye while giving her a knowing look. "It won't bring her back that way," the orange-clad cruiser said, her voice bereft of her usual cheer. "Besides, she's telling the truth."

Chikuma's lips worked to try and speak, her eyes flitting between Sendai and Leviathan, until she gritted her teeth and turned away, taking a few steps before speaking again. "Gomen... It seems I've acted foolishly..." she said, before walking away entirely. Tone gave an apologetic bow to them before chasing off after her sister, while Tenryuu scratched at one of her ear-horns.

"Maaaa... That wasn't what I thought we'd have as a 'hello'..." she said, while Leviathan simply watched the two sister ships leave, her visor hiding whatever expression she may have had.

* * *

"Hmmm... It wasn't her fault then..."

"Tell that to her though. Grief does funny things to people at times, and tend to take things like that rather personally at times." Louisville said, spearing her fork into her spaghetti and twirling it around, before popping it in her mouth.

"Indeed. So... I hear that your brother and Hornet are getting back together again," Maryland said to change the subject, knowing that she'd succeeded as it elicited a groan from the other ship-girl along with her forehead hitting the table.

"I don't know why everyone makes that joke when they get sent out on a sortie. YES, they're an item. YES, Hamp denies it at every chance. YES, Hornet acts as though she's heartbroken each time. We all know it's an act though, so WHY do people keep acting like it's funny?"

"Because our lives are like soap operas?" the battleship quipped, earning a disapproving glare from Louisville as she looked up. "In all honesty though, you have to admit that it is somewhat cute."

"It was cute when I first heard it yes, and even for the first few months of watching it. But it's been nearly 4 years! It's OLD now! People should stop beating the dead horse once the bones have ground to powder!"

"And North Hampton and Hornet should get a room, a priest, and a long honeymoon with a couple of shiplets as well. But that hasn't happened either, has it?" Mary said. This time Louis' eyes were wide in surprise, mouth gaping open in shock before the battleship noticed. "What? Just because I vowed myself to celibacy doesn't mean that I don't know how the shipyard works, you know?"

"That. Is. My. BROTHER! I do NOT need that mental image in my head!" Louiville shrieked, to which the commander merely giggled.

"Very well then, perhaps we can return to our first topic then. Did anything else of interest happen with our guest? I imagine that we'll be learning a lot about her soon, but I'd like to know it from those who met her first."

"Well... I'll admit that she has quite a crew with her, even if they seem to be as energetic as our own fairies. She's similar to Jersey too."

"How so?" Maryland asked curiously.

"She had a couple of them that she called 'gremlins'. Given how they were going around like ground forces, I think they were her marines. You know how they always hated the term 'fairy'. Even the Iowa sisters referred to their boarding and counter-boarding teams as gremlins. Some of the British too from what I hear."

"Ah yes. The Corps always had their pride, even as representations..."

"Tell me about it. And these ones seem just as thick-headed, if the one time we caught her dressing them down was to go by..."

"Oh?"

"Well, we didn't get to actually HEAR what she was saying, probably that Abyssal head-speak thing going on, but her body language was pretty clear..."

* * *

"You can't go warthogging in a Scorpion! What were you thinking?!" Leviathan hissed over her comms so as to try and keep it from her new 'allies'. The last thing she needed was her crew embarrassing her over something like this when she was trying to be professional.

"Ooo!" came the Marine's reply, his tiny arms up in a shrug.

"I don't CARE if it WORKED, you shouldn't have been able to do it in the first place! Could you stop breaking the laws of physics for just one day?!"

"Oo! Rah rah oo!"

"You dropped it from the... I'm going to have to sit you all down and remind you that using vehicles as makeshift bombs is NOT a primary tactic again, aren't I? That's supposed to be a LAST DITCH maneuver!"

* * *

Maryland let out a faint smile as she pictured the scenario in her mind. It was good to know that the Kanmusu Corps weren't the only ones who occasionally had problems. Admittedly, there were only a handful of times that any Abyssal 'Imps' were sighted, so behavioral studies on them were damn rare. If things went well, perhaps this situation would result in another breakthrough... or five.

"Those fighters of hers are no joke either. Fast things... Maybe some new type of Abyssal jet. You remember how they first showed up a year and change back?" Louisville said, prompting the elder ship-girl to frown.

"Yes, it wasn't fun to see that. Thankfully they seem to have more problems than human ones though. Something to do with having too much weight and not enough thrust due to being made to launch from underwater. Ours can still dance around theirs, and have more firepower."

"Well, we might have to change that... They latch onto her like remorahs when docking, which is a bit odd, but they're no slouches otherwise. She's got a full flight too, so I'm thinking that she really is some type of carrier equivalent, maybe an up-armored escort carrier. WAY too much armor for it though... And she does call herself a cruiser..."

"An Aviation ship? Scaled down versions of what the Japanese tried with the _Ise_ class?" Maryland suggested.

"Who knows? The real kicker was her mentality. I know most Abyssals don't like us at all, but even the more militant minded ones sometimes blab or brag or taunt us with their supernatural abilities... They all seem to pride themselves that they still beat us out in THAT department."

Maryland nodded. "True, so what makes this Leviathan different?"

* * *

"Please... There's no such thing as magic, you know that," Leviathan said as she walked along a shattered road, pushing past the remains of an abandoned car as she went down one of the residential areas. It was only when noticed the lack of other footsteps that she turned to see all of the ship-girls staring at her with widened eyes.

"...What?"

"No... magic... how...?" Louisville stammered as she tried to understand Levi's words. "How can you say that?!"

"...Are you serious?" the space cruiser deadpanned, looking at each of the kanmusu around her giving her slack-jawed expressions. "Great. Of all the places I had to show up in, it has to be the one where superstition runs rampant..."

* * *

"Now I know you're pulling my leg."

Louisville held her hands up. "Cross my heart on this, that's exactly what she said. I know we all think she's a recent addition, but I'm starting to wonder just HOW recent if she's got all this and STILL doesn't think it's magic. I mean, I know it takes getting used to, but full-on denial like that?"

"That's not normal... Not for us and I'll bet my turrets not for the Abyss either. Maybe there's something else going on with her. What is she doing now anyways?"

"Last I checked, she was still up on the deck. She's too bulky to fit through most of the hatches, and I don't think anyone wants to risk pissing her off by hauling her down to the brig. We've got a full guard on her at all times though. Musashi and Houston are keeping within arms reach so to speak, and a full Marine presence there as well. Pretty sure that Scharnhorst volunteered as well, but was ordered to stay behind to keep up the coastal presence in Manila," Louisville said, taking the last bit of her pasta into her mouth, chewing and then swallowing it and setting her fork down. "How about the others? You know where they're at? I haven't seen Willie since we got back..."

"The Taffies are all out keeping an eye on the harbor with Sendai, and Miss Porter is with DesDiv6 while Tenryuu makes her own report to Yokosuka," Maryland said, popping a tiny tomato from her salad into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it before continuing. "The destroyers are all still tired out from the battle, and are in need of some downtime since they were in the worst of it near the start. Chikuma and Tone stayed behind with Taffy 3, so between them, the relief fleet from Yokosuka, as well as Scharnhorst and Sendai, they should have the area secured."

"It's going to be a lot of rebuilding..."

"That it is..."

* * *

Nearly a day after she'd come aboard the ship, Leviathan looked on as the port of Yokosuka Japan came into view, watching the soldiers and sailors moving to and fro as the _Blue Ridge_ passed Tomaricho. It gave the cruiser a rather curious view as she spotted what looked like another blue water ship of positively archaic vintage, yet its bottom half was surrounded in concrete. A preservation perhaps? An interesting theory, even if it were to turn out to be inaccurate if she got a closer look... For now though, the sight of several armed men in full tactical gear along with several other men, and a few women, in duty uniform waiting at the port's large and wedge-shaped parking lot took her attention fully. Leviathan had remained in her armored form for the trip, not quite willing to drop her guard while she was still floating above what were most likely unfriendly waters, though she knew she'd have to switch out eventually. Being in this state was more comfortable for her, but it made interactions rather frosty... at least with the regular humans. The water-born ships, or ship-people, seemed to take it a bit more in stride, but they were still wary... and the full guard detail armed with anti-armor weapons were not the most subtle reminders of this either. Still, she WAS acting somewhat as a diplomat, in a manner of speaking, so the starship knew that remaining on good behavior was a priority.

"Nervous?" one of the ship-girls next to her spoke up, a blond in white with a set of cowboy boots and a revolver on her hip next to her two turrets.

"Not really... Though I'll admit that this is the first time seeing it from this perspective."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Visiting dignitaries on some occasions, parade maneuvers for boosting morale... Pomp and ceremony is still the same wherever you find it, it seems. Used to carrying people to and from them though, not being carried," Leviathan said as she looked on, the sun glinting off her visor as she did so.

"Huh. Well, they certainly rolled out the welcome mat for ya."

"That they have..."

As the _Blue Ridge_ began to come to anchor, Leviathan made her way towards the forward gangway. The duty officer was already getting into position, and as the gangplank was set in place, people started crawling out of the woodwork, yet they all seemed to be waiting for her... Giving a small chuckle, Leviathan rose from her seat and walked towards the rail, her 'escort' around her at the ready. As she looked down onto the docks, she saw one person in particular standing in wait wearing a USN Admiral's uniform, a cane in hand as he glowered up at her. Beside him were two ship-girls in full rigging, one with white hair and a hairband, a bow in hand and flight deck hanging off of her arm, while the other was a younger looking redhead with a blue coat and a revolver in hand alongside her turrets. Smiling for a moment, Leviathan schooled her features then before descending down the ramp, her thruster/boots clanging against the metal. It was when she was halfway down, with Houston and Musashi behind her, that the cruiser changed...

White, mist-like tendrils began to bleed off of Leviathan's form, seeping from the plating that covered her as the other ship-girls took a step back warily. They watched, hands flexing and tensing on their weapons, holding fire due to the proximity of friendlies, yet pausing as they realized how... familiar the sight was. This familiarity became more obvious as the Abyssal's armor seemed to deteriorate, vanishing into mist and fading into thin air. Several eyes widened as Levi's helmet seemed to dissolve, letting a short ponytail of dark blue/black hair peek from beneath a grey cap with white accents featuring a silver eagle and shield flanked by four golden anchors and fretting, as well as revealing sharp features with Romanian hints to them beneath piercing yellow eyes that glowed from within.

Though she lost nearly a full foot in height, Leviathan's presence still commanded attention, as her outfit settled into form. A grey-white uniform with built-in plating across the chest and stomach fit sleekly over her body, while her left arm held a glowing tac-pad on the inner forearm and a sloping pauldron on the shoulder. Black panels covered the ship-girl's ribs while grey sleeves hid her arms, wrists encompassed by a set of white stripes. A holster holding a pistol sat on her right thigh, sitting over grey trousers that had a black inseam and white trim along the hems, while her feet ended in sensible boots that fastened directly to the pants. A series of ribbons were fastened beneath the symbol of the Eagle and Globe upon her left breast, the letters 'UNSC' stitched proudly for all to see. All in all, she could have passed for a naval officer in her own right, except for the lack of rank markings on her uniform.

As the crowd warily returned to a more relaxed position, Leviathan made her way to the bottom of the gangplank, where a line was marked along the dock. Looking directly at the officer across from her, the Marathon-class took him in with a critical eye. The man had some scarring along his brow, likely from shrapnel if she were to judge anything, and his glower showed that he was not amused at her little stunt if her interpretation was anything to go by. Standing at attention, Leviathan matched his stare with her own and spoke.

"UNSC Leviathan, requesting permission to come ashore," she said, awaiting the man's response. He looked a little surprised at the formality of the cruiser's tone, but rallied himself in return.

"Permission granted. Welcome to Yokosuka, I'm Admiral Settle, United States Navy. I hope your intentions here are good," he said in response, his voice lowered at the last part yet still audible.

Nodding to him, Leviathan stepped off the ramp in order to let the others down as well behind her, stepping up to the American, who refused to budge from his place. It was a good sign in her book. "I hope that we can all get along then. But perhaps we can continue this discussion in a more comfortable environment, hmm? I'm sure we have a lot to talk about..."


	16. Omake Chapter 2: Triple Threat!

Author's Note: It's that time again! The fic is a year old now, and still going! Today we get a triple feature! Two omakes, one done by aceofAces_AA, thanks again to them, and another that is a possible sneak peek at a side fic! I know, I know, I'm a horrible tease for putting off the next chapter... Sorry! But these won't leave me alone in my head! Enjoy!

* * *

The Princess could barely contain her excitement, and she knew the most uncharacteristically wide grin was splitting her face. But she didn't care. For so long those "kanmusu" had held them at bay, kept them from exacting their revenge, and it had only gotten worse when the traitor joined their side. Now they were on the back foot, fearing the dull roar of the traitor's engines overhead as more and more of their number were sent to the bottom of the sea.

But now, they had their chance. In a desperate gamble, they'd managed to draw away the traitor and her news friends from their base. Now it lay wide open for the Princess and her sisters, and they would exploit that weakness. They sailed quickly, maximizing the revolutions in their engines to push themselves at flank. What damage they would suffer to their engines could be repaired when they returned home.

The Princess' guns itched, waiting for their chance to obliterate the humans for their betrayal. She could feel herself shaking in anticipation. She would savor this moment, and enjoy every drop of blood that would soon coat her claws. She could see it ahead of her, the opening to the bay in which the human's protectors would come home to port, coincidentally one of their more populated cities. So close, she could almost smell the smoke and the burning taste of cordite fumes.

But just as she was about to unlimber her cannons and begin shooting, she felt something in the water move. Ahead, the sea bulged as something massive surfaced, the water cascading down it in sheets. It was massive, colossal even, and the Princess felt her jaw drop.

It was covered in massive plates of metal, some interlocking, others pivoting on the ends of massive booms. Titanium grey heavy armor fitted snugly over a black and grey bodysuit, huge powerful legs fitting inside massive armored boots that ended in glowing blue engine nacelles. A single engine twice as large hung down from the beings back, and four massive cannons were arrayed over its shoulders. The head was covered by a helmet, a vibrant blue visor the only indication that someone was inside that armor. All over the beings body, the Princess could see arrays of hundreds of missile pods, dozens of point defense guns, and a handful of secondary cannons.

As the being stood up to its full height, towering at least twenty feet over the abyssal fleet and hovering just a few inches off the water, ten large silos, five on either side, angled outward. Opening, ten objects shot out of these silos and began hovering around the larger being, each covered in the same metal and each carrying a single large cannon in their right hands. All of them glared at the Abyssals. They were frigates, each and every one of them, and they definitely looked angry.

"Okay..." The being said, in a thundering voice that shook the Princess to her boilers. It slammed its fist into its palm, the impact creating a sound way too similar to a cannon shot for the Princess' liking.

"So who's first?"

-[24 HOURS EARLIER]-

"Uh Levi." Goto began shakily, still slightly terrified of what he was looking at. "I appreciate that you're trying to...*ahem* gather up your UNSC friends but..." He stared up at the twenty foot tall woman standing in the middle of Tokyo bay, Musashi and Nagato standing to either side of him with their mouths agape. "...we're going to need to have a talk about our housing capabilities..."

The woman in the middle of the bay, with her helmet tucked under her arm, straightened to attention. "UNSC Infinity, INF-01 reporting for duty, sir!"

* * *

Starlight winked off the translucent visor of a young woman looking down the length of her weapon, the shroud appearing similar to a wedge-shape that ended in two barrels, both of which pointed out into space. Asteroids and other stellar debris drifted around her in an eternal dance while the teenaged-looking figure watched the horizon of a distant planet. "Confirmed Actual. Nine contacts, heading spinward towards the moon. One heavy destroyer, one armored cruiser, and three light cruisers. Warbook ID's them as CPV, RCS, and CRS classes appropriately. Last four look like DSC-class supply vessels. Requesting instructions."

 _[Fall back to the rally point, no need to spook the locals yet. With that much firepower it wouldn't be worth it to blow your cover just to kill a food ship,]_ came the commander's voice over the radio, hovering between electronic and telepathic in a way that felt kind of like silk passing over her brain even while tickling her ears.

"Confirmed. Returning to rally point," the young woman said, slowing pushing herself away from the asteroid that she had been lying against, using it to thrust herself further into the debris field so as to conserve her thrusters until needed. The ship-girl leapfrogged and pushed off of many of the stones, only firing maneuvering thrusters when she had a larger chunk of rock to conceal her from view of the three Covenant ships that she'd spotted. Her rigging was rather streamlined, looking like a back-mounted jetpack overtop a standard UNSC Marine's EVA suit. The torso, arms, and legs were covered with black armored plates bearing red stripes, while her helmet visor covered softly glowing eyes. A balaclava-like mask covered the destroyer's mouth from view, while her feet were covered in armored boots bearing engine nacelles on them. Small turrets and hatches dotted her shoulders and calves, while her rifle-like weapon swung on cables like a strap. The only amount of decoration beyond the stripes were the numbers '906' on the right side of her helmet, and the logo of the UNSC over her left breast.

Coming up to another large planetoid, the ship-girl grabbed the lip of a crater and pulled herself into a roll that let her 'dive' into it, a fissure at the bottom of the impact point opening up a series of subterranean caverns, allowing her to hide out of view of prying eyes. Floating in the micro-gravity of one such cave, the destroyer-class girl took sight of several others that huddled around a glowing hologram of the system, the bluish lighting reflecting off their black and grey forms like shades hovering around a fire.

The first one, whose arm was emitting the glow that she'd seen before, gave her a nod. "Welcome back Iroquois. Hope you enjoyed the sight-seeing."

"Thanks Levi. It's always nice to get out and smell the roses once in awhile... Reminds you of what your funeral's going to be like at least," the girl quipped back as she pushed herself over to where the group was, taking up position near the frigate-girl Gettysburg, who was polishing the bayonet attached to her MAC gun.

Leviathan nodded in response before turning back to the hologram. "Alright. Again, with only five dedicated combat ships in the system, we should be able to get the jump on them pretty handily, but I worry that with that kind of tonnage and that armored cruiser we could get bogged down if we let them. I want that web-ship taken down hard and fast," she said, pointing out the RCS type. Such ships were nominally equipped with stasis-enfolder systems, designed to pin fighters in place to make it easier to target and destroy them. The Covenant's inheritors had found that against kanmusu however, it had the 'happy' side-effect of reducing the effectiveness of most of the reincarnated ships' weaponry, preventing them from using Archers or autocannon fire even when they'd taken down the shields, and in the case of lighter ship-girls could even freeze them in place. As a result, such technology was seeing a resurgence as a sort of secondary shield, though a lack of dedicated cooperative development and production meant that its spread was very, very limited.

"I want a time-to-target dual-volley strike with MAC guns on it, thirty second separation on the volleys. Shooters will be myself, Iroquois, Lancelot, Richthofen and Electra," the cruiser said, nodding to the four destroyers. "With that done, Gettysburg, Fair Weather, Grafton, Providence and Savannah will move in with Lancelot and Electra to take on the mantas, while the rest of us go after the big fish. Milan, you'll hang back behind the belt with Chioglossa and Glasgow Kiss for escort, and bring your fighters and bombers in to keep the Covie's strikecraft under wraps. See if you can get a bombing run on those food ships as well, but keep them back if things get dicey. They've been ramping up their AAA fitouts lately, and no offence, but I am NOT footing your dinner bill again..."

The Epoch-class carrier, a rather buxom girl even through her armor plating, chuckled at that and patted her belly with a grin while the two frigate-girls that would be accompanying her gave each other knowing looks. The carrier's bat-like Longswords chittered along her hips and back, giving the armored skirt and shoulder-cape a false sense of independent life as they readied their fuel and armaments from hidden umbilicals. A light MAC rested against the Caucasian-featured woman's shoulder, looking like an old BR-55 battle rifle.

As the group went over the last details of their plan, Leviathan had to once again suppress a rueful chuckle at how things had reversed since coming from the 'other' Earth. While there, the Abyssals had mercilessly hunted convoys carrying vital supplies of food and fuel to and from various countries in an effort to starve out humanity's coastal and island nations, and Levi herself had put down a LOT of those attacks. That she was now doing the exact same thing from the other side of hostilities against Covenant Loyalists and their Promethean allies never ceased to give her a sense of irony. But then again, she'd never denied the anger and rage she felt at what those same Covenant had done in the old war, and found it only fitting that she visited the same upon them. "Alright, we all know what we're doing then... Let's get to it," the command ship-girl said, closing the tactical map and maneuvering towards the exit. There was prey to hunt...

* * *

Tatsuta suppressed a frown as she looked down at her cards, a 2 and an 8, both of clubs but nothing all that good since the dealer had been flipping diamonds and hearts. One of them was another 2, along with the 6 of diamonds and the Jack of hearts, but unless she picked up something on the river, it was looking like a bust for her. Across from her was Tenryuu (who had just as bad a hand as she did if the little grimace she was trying to hide was any indication), Maya (who had a small grin on her face, but she did the same when she had nothing that one time, so it could just be that she was already winning enough to be able to afford to fold this hand), as well as Takao and Atago (who was winning so much that her chips were starting to block the sight of her tits from view), and one of the newcomers, a Destroyer named Iroquois.

Like Leviathan before her, Iroquois was a pale-skinned space-shipgirl with slightly glowing eyes, a soft white as opposed to any other color, and dark hair that she wore pulled back tightly with a few bangs covering her forehead. Unlike the cruiser though, Iroquois wore her hair in a braid that went over one shoulder with a feather tied to the end, and her casual dress was a black t-shirt with red sleeves and shoulders. Over the top she wore a brown leather vest, and at the back of her waist was a knife in a buckskin sheath sporting a pair of feathers similar to the one that dangled off the end of her braid. Camo-printed pants tucked into leather boots with blood-red lines going down over the sides of her hips and calves, matching the ones painted over her cheeks. When the water-based ship-girls had seen her for the first time, everyone expected a broody young woman, yet the destroyer was surprisingly cheerful... almost naively so, until one got to know her and the dark sense of humor that teased at greater depths. That same sense of humor made her and Tatsuta quick friends, who would trade quips with one another at the drop of a hat, especially if Tenryuu was their target.

But one thing that everyone agreed on was that the tight balaclava mask she wore was hiding something... The only question was what. Most of the UNSC girls preferred to eat together in their own barracks, or in the docks where it would have been rude to peek. As a result, none of the Earth-based girls knew what was under the mask, but there was a running bet on what it was. The game had been going on for over an hour now, and more than one ship-girl had been sliding glances at Iroquois to see if she would lower the mask to take a drink from the glass of rum next to her, but so far she hadn't done anything of the sort...

"I call," Maya said as Tatsuta flipped over the last card, a six of clubs to match its diamond sibling as it sat next to the King of hearts, still smiling as the heavy cruiser looked over at Tenryu, who returned the look with a hint of challenge.

"I raise 500 yen," she said, throwing another chip in, causing her sister to only narrowly avoid kicking her in the shin.

"Are you sure Tenryu-chan? You're starting to look rather low there," the haloed destroyer-leader said with a lilt, causing her horned sister to puff up.

"Screw that! Bring it on and meet me if you think you've got the cards!" she said, causing Atago to shake her head even as she, Atago, and then Iroquois threw their own chips in. Tatsuta on the other hand folded, placing her cards face down with a sigh as she admitted defeat. Surprisingly, Maya did too, leaving only four in the pot. "Ha! Should have known you'd bail! Ain't noone who can beat me once I get going! I raise another 500 yen"

"1000," came Takao's response, causing Tenryu's head to snap over so fast that her engineer started swearing.

"Wha, seriously?!" she said.

"Raise again, another 500 yen," Atago said with a smile, causing Tenryu to gulp nervously.

"Hey, hey now... No need to get that excited!" the purple-clad woman said as the braided destroyer wordlessly added 1500 yen of chips in, not wanting to test her luck further. Realizing that it was now her turn, the woman gritted her teeth before looking at her cards again, gulping one more time before taking some of her last chips and placing them in the pot.

Takao smiled, looking at the younger cruiser with a predatory grin, before placing her hand down. "Two pair, Kings and Jacks," she said, showing the Jack and King of diamonds in her hand, causing her sister to deflate a bit as she put her hand down. "Kings and 8's... Not enough."

"Devil's luck my dears! I've got a six and an 8!" Iroquois said, placing her cards down to see.

Tenryu's horns seemed to lower themselves in a sulk on her head, her one eye looking like she was going to cry... Until the smirk betrayed here. "Read 'em and weep bitches! Full house, Jacks over sixes!" she said, slapping down both remaining Jacks and reaching for the stack of chips with a triumphant grin while the others decried her successful bluff. "Should have known better than to tangle with me ladies!"

"Yeah yeah, you got us good. Deal me in for another hand, I've still got time tonight," Maya said as she resorted her chips in preparation. As Tatsuta did the same, she nearly missed it when Iroquois' hand wrapped around her glass, lifting it up towards her face. Tatsuta's gloved hands froze as her gaze locked on as the destroyer's finger hooked at the balaclava, pulling it down...

...To reveal olive brown skin surrounding by a line of pale but healing scar tissue that melded into the pale flesh above.

"My my, Iroquois-chan, is that...?" Tatsuta said, drawing the attentions of the other ship-girls to where the newcomer was swallowing another mouthful of rum.

"Hmmm? What, this?" she said, pointing at her mouth.

"Yo, what gives Iri? You hiding a tan underneath sunscreen or something?" Tenryu asked, causing the destroyer to chuckle.

"Hehehe, nah, nothing like that. Most UNSC ships use TR steel alloy in their superstructures, which bleaches out as it gets exposed to cosmic radiation. Guess it translated to a sort of reverse-tanning effect for us. You can usually tell how old a ship is by how pale they are in the superstructure."

"But... why the difference then? Did you get repaired recently and it just hasn't... I mean..." Maya asked.

Iroquois' response was nothing less than a cheeky, toothy grin and a hearty chuckle. "Hehehe... Oh that? Let's just say that Covenant ships are lousy kissers..."


	17. Chapter 15: Skepticism and Starships

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Kantai Collection, or I'd be able to do this professionally instead of on a fanfic site!

Author's Note: Alright! So, interesting time writing this, and with the diversity of characters that are present I didn't want to screw it up, so... Yeah, sorry it took so long! Credit goes to all of those who helped me out with it via various sources, and hopefully the next one won't be such an arm-twister for me to write up! Thanks guys!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese_

 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Leviathan looked down at the monitors that had been laid out in front of her. In all honesty, she should have expected this. It made more sense to her that any discussion with an unknown like herself, especially in these circumstances, would be over a video conference rather than face-to-face. The fact that they'd had one of their leaders escort her here in person was more trust than she felt that anyone from ONI would have shown had the situation been reversed... She'd have expected an ONI interrogation team and possibly a padded room guarded by a full heavy weapons team, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. As it was, Leviathan took a seat in the rather plain looking chair at the center of the table, lit by overhead lights and the screens of the monitors themselves. A pitcher of water was set next to her along with a glass, as well as a shaker of salt. That momentarily threw her for a loop, as Leviathan couldn't think of any custom that would require that, but didn't want to seem rude for asking.

During the trip over, the woman had spent a lot of time debating with her AI partner as to what they should reveal and what they shouldn't, with neither of them being truly happy with the end result but in agreement as to whether or not full disclosure was a good or bad idea. In the end, they just had to hope that they didn't overstep their bounds TOO badly... But then again, it would also depend on not only who would be listening in on this, but how they would take the revelations...

For now, Leviathan would simply have to do something that her Admiral was very familiar with and gamble with the odds. Not the most reliable method in existence, but the cruiser was quickly finding that there was all too little choice in such matters. In the meantime, she would simply fold her hands and wait as the various monitors came online...

* * *

Admiral Ryan Settle was gritting his teeth as he watched the Abyssal through the closed circuit camera as she eyed the water before ignoring it. It was times like these that he again wished that he'd learned a bit more diplomacy back at Annapolis, but the woman's face was nearly unreadable to him, and it really wouldn't have made him any less perturbed at this whole debacle in the first place. He was far too blunt for anything really sophisticated on the one hand, and on the other, being up close and personal with the woman had given him all kinds of heebie-jeebies. The sense of something wrong still as pervasive as it was whenever he laid eyes on one of the sunken bitches, but flavored with something else. He didn't get the sense of eldritch Evil (Capital 'E' and all) that most of the others gave, but that wasn't new either... It was something else, something that definitely raised his hackles as the sheer strangeness of the situation settled over him. It was like someone had covered his eyes and yet he could STILL sense the finger a half-inch away from his skin in a childish 'I'm not touching you!' sort of way.

Looking out of the corner of his eye to another camera, Settle watched Arizona stand as a silent guard outside the bunker that Leviathan had been led to, and he knew that he wasn't the only one that was on edge. The redhead's hand hadn't left the butt of her revolver since Blue Ridge's landing, and while her rigging wasn't deployed, he could swear that the phantom form of it flickered in and out invisibly with the slight breeze. Honey-brown eyes flicked back to the camera, seeming to match his own gaze, a curt confirmation that her admiral wasn't changing his mind before returning to the bunker where the pale-skinned woman masquerading as a naval officer sat.

"The Shit-show start yet?" Hate said as he walked in, carafe in hand as he sipped at it, the cannon-turned-rifle he'd named Fenrir slung over his plate carrier as his eyes gleamed with an unholy glimmer.

"You're just in time. Decided to take your Raifu out for a stroll already?"

"Pays to be prepared asshole," the marine replied. "Your handler's keeping an eye on things up close too. Her idea?"

"You know her. She insisted."

"Yeah... How much you wanna bet this is another of those damn suicide boats of theirs?"

Settle looked over at the Marine Captain, his brow furrowed and eyes half-lidded. "Fifty fifty. They put a LOT of resources into that attack, only to have it blasted away... but they've got the numbers to make it up, and they've pulled tricky shit before. On the other hand, who the fuck really knows with them, you know? Could be some infighting or territorial bullshit too."

"So why didn't we do this out at sea instead of here in the fucking port? I mean, if she DOES go up, that piddly ass bunker won't do fucking shit given the amount of boom they can do."

"Not my call, nor Goto's. Someone in the Diet pulled some strings and now we've got to deal with it. But if it goes tits up, I'm going to be finding someone's ass to break my foot off in even if I have to claw my way out of the grave to do it..."

* * *

The video monitors came on one by one as the JMSDF's Admiral Hitoshi Goto, as well as Chiefs of Staff Katsutoshi Kawano and Tomohisa Takei. Settle knew there were more, but those were the ones who'd been able to set the time aside for this, or at least the ones visibly participating. Another set of screens popped up to show First Sea Lord Admiral Philip Jones as well as Admiral Collingwood from the British Royal Navy, both of them looking like they were trying to burn a set of holes in their webcams. It was only matched by the Deutsche Marine's Admiral Thorsten Kähler and flanked by the Battleship-girl Bismarck. These two were a bit of a surprise, as Settle figured they were some of the busier leaders of the various navies. The European theater, from what he'd heard, was less of a surface engagement zone and more of a submarine feeding frenzy. With U-boats having cropped up on both sides of the war in enormous numbers there, as well as other nations adding their own submarine and anti-submarine ships to the mess, it was a hellish zone to go into. He didn't know the full details, but he he'd received more than one memo suggested that he get their U-511, or Ro as the Japanese called her (Rosy as she was called by the American ship-girls), to help out with anti-sub tactics before she had to return. Harder hadn't liked it at first, but between him, Ro, and Iku, the Yokosuka branch had set up a decent rotation for training both subs and ASW girls before the German-born ship-girl had returned to her homeland.

Several more screens came on, with both officers and dignitaries from various nations, including a surprising addition of China's Vice Admiral Liu Yi. Settle hadn't met the man personally, but he'd had a decent reputation, especially with his handling of some of the Chinese Returned. Some of the last ones to show up were God aka the CNO, who looked more intrigued than anything else, and the French Battleship-girl Richelieu representing the Marine Nationale, who just looked pissed. With each monitor that clicked on, Settle watched the pale-skinned sea-witch's eyes snap to them and visibly memorize the faces on-screen, head tilting and twisting only enough to show that it wasn't nervousness that was causing her to do so.

Leviathan waited patiently as one of the officers cleared his throat to speak. "Greetings. My name is Admiral Halloway, United States Navy. Forgive me if we at any point come across as somewhat rude, but I believe it is safe to say that this is somewhat of a new experience for all of us gathered here," the American CNO said diplomatically, to which the Abyssal nodded.

"Understandable. And I think we can agree that this is something of a... unique challenge for everyone as well," she said, hints of an accent Settle couldn't place leaking through as Halloway nodded.

"Very well. For the record then, will you please state your name as we do introductions? As well as your place of origin?"

A frown teased at her pursed lips, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, but the woman nodded anyways. As each of the dignitaries gave their names with varying degrees of warmth or cold tones, she waited until providing her own. "Leviathan, Marathon-class cruiser, hull number CA-684, Epsilon Eridani II."

"Epsilon... Eridani? Is that the name of the base that built you, or something else?" Halloway asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It was where I was constructed, yes," she replied neutrally as the Chinese Vice-Admiral spoke next.

"What nation did you originally come from?" he asked, a look of both suspicion and curiosity on his face.

"No single nation. I was built specifically for UNSC use."

"Hmmmm, thank you," Yi said as he seemed to tap at something in front of him. "If I may ask then for clarification, you are coming to us here of your own free will, yes?"

The woman nodded at that. "That is correct."

"And your reason for doing so?"

"Repair, rearm, refuel, and exchange of information."

That caused a few of the dignitaries and leaders to grumble a bit.

"What information do you have, and what would you request in exchange?" Kahler spoke up next, causing Leviathan to look over at the man before replying.

"Knowledge of an impending threat that the rest of humanity has already been facing, threat assessments and known counter-tactics that have proven effective against them, as well as various technologies that you appear to be missing in order to aid in your defence and other areas. As for what I require in return: Astronomical charts of local space are my primary need, as well as information regarding this Abyssal threat, along with any... related topics."

The German officer frowned thoughtfully, but seemed to take it somewhat in stride as confusion started becoming more apparent on some of the gathered faces. "We'll see about getting you what you require. Now, when you say 'impending threat,' you mean another, besides the Abyssals?"

Before Leviathan could respond, another dignitary from the Russian contingent spoke up. "I'm sorry, rest of humanity? Missing technology? And why would you need astronomical charts of local space specifically? I mean, aren't those only used for horoscope predictions? Or the like?"

"Navigation of celestial bodies is not an easy matter. Unlike traditional astronavigation, there are a lot of other factors involved in travelling between the stars. Constellations make for good points of reference however, as long as the stars that make them up are properly mapped and catalogued."

The conference was quiet for but a mere moment, incredulity on the faces of those facing the Abyssal, before one of them spoke up. "Are you... Are you honestly trying to claim that you're a god damned SPACE ship?"

"Isn't that rather obvious?" Leviathan replied snappily. "Do you know of any OTHER type of ship with the capability to fly into orbit and beyond?"

* * *

Scalding hot coffee spewed along the back of the head of the poor man handling the monitors as the liquid blew out of Hate's nose and mouth, and if he hadn't been equally gobsmacked, Settle might have found it a marvel that the marine could actually feel shock as such. Or maybe he had just failed to stop himself from laughing. The glasshole did have a sense of humor that ran towards bullshit like that... As it was though, Settle had to shake himself to keep flies from flying down his throat as he looked at the others to ensure that he wasn't hearing things, and that yes, she HAD just said that...

* * *

"What... The... Fuck...?" Parker said as he looked at his own laptop monitor, Nagato looking over his shoulder at the screen with an equally shocked expression on her normally stoic face. The look didn't change at all when the German admiral paled like a ghost before speaking.

"Then... When you say you were built for the 'UNSC', you meant..."

"United Nations Space Command."

* * *

"A fucking space ship?"

"The damn tabloids were right... Holy fuck..."

"Goddamn, the scientists are going to go insane over this..."

"You can't possibly be serious... You expect us to believe that?!"

"Sweet Mary and Joseph..."

The next few minutes were spent in a slowly rising level of irritation, with Leviathan frowning at the explosive commentary of the dignitaries her statement had apparently brought forth. Between each of them muttering at each other or at her in various languages, and the sheer shock that was plain on all of their faces, the spaceship-girl knew she'd have to take control of this now or else it would only get worse. Closing her eyes as she took a breath, Leviathan turned over her wrist to tap away at the Tacpad attached to her forearm. She really would have rathered that this be done more delicately, but she knew that she didn't have the patience or time for that right now...

The display beeped and meeped a few times, before a cone of light began to rise up from the device. Within this field, an inhuman face appeared, the head conical and shark-like, but with four protruding mandibles coming from the sides of its snout-like face. These mandibles moved with an eerie semblance, like a hybrid between a true jaw and a squid's tentacles, while dark eyes gleamed out from widely-set cavities within its skull. The whole of the head was encased in a silvery armor, with fins along the back, sides, and dorsal radius, giving the otherwise beastial entity an air of ostentation and technological civility at odds with the predatory gleam in its eyes...

"27 years ago, the colony world of Harvest was attacked by an unknown group of aliens. They'd given no prior messages, no first contact that we ever recorded, and until then had left humanity alone. On February 11, 2525, they broadcast this message to us, in our own language, just prior to the attack..."

Hitting a button on her pad, the holographic video played out, the creature's fanged maw hissing as they moved in a parody of human lips, as words slithered and croaked from within the alien throat in a way that sounded odd, almost formal and calm... yet was laden with rage and malice...

 _ **"Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument."**_

For a moment, all was quiet... The holographic image of the Elite's menacing expression frozen for them all to see... And then the conference EXPLODED!

"The who, did what, where?!"

 _"Colony world?!"_

 _"2525?!"_

Leviathan closed the file before staring into the monitors, practically daring those displayed to look her in the eye as they shouted. Tapping at her Tacpad again, Leviathan brought up a hologram of several figures with a variety of body shapes. Most of them stood up on two legs, while one floated in the air. "The Covenant, as we have found they call themselves, are a religious theocracy of 7 different sentient species, with at least another 2 that we've seen hints of, but have had no visual proof of yet. They apparently believe that a previous alien civilization was able to rise to God-hood, and that by following this path, which roughly translates as the 'Great Journey', that they can accomplish the same thing. For some reason that we have yet to identify, the Covenant believes that Humanity is a kind of obstacle to this. That Mankind's very existence is a 'blasphemy'. As a result, for 27 years they've been waging a genocidal war to try and eliminate us from the stars, destroying world after world in their wake."

Closing this file as well, Leviathan folded her hands beneath her chin as she glared into the camera. "Can we dispense with the falsehoods please? I do not know why you thought it best to pretend that the last 500 years hadn't happened, or when the choice to do so occurred, let alone why you continue to act as if this were Earth in the first place. You've done a fair job at making yourselves seem like the Colonial Expansion never happened, but this is getting tedious... With things as they stand, it's only a matter of time until the Covenant find this world, and if that happens, we may as well kiss the entirety of your culture and peoples goodbye. You may be on the outskirts of colonized space, but that's no excuse for letting yourselves remain blind to the greater goings-on in the universe..."

Richelieu was looking increasingly perturbed as she worked to cover up her previous shock. "What? Do you expect us to believe that you're from the future or something? That this isn't our homeworld?" Richelieu scoffed, "We have the fossil records to prove you wrong. Also, if this were a different planet, wouldn't the stars be different, Ms. Levi?"

As Richelieu looked like she was gearing up to continue her tirade, the Chinese vice-admiral calmly steepled his fingers and looked directly into the camera as he interrupted his French counterpart. "And what makes you think that this isn't Earth then? Do you have any proof of this?"

"If this had been Earth, I wouldn't have found only a bare satellite network welcoming me in orbit. I would have found the Home Fleet, and an array of defensive installations and orbital cannons all readying themselves for the fight. In addition, the Naval Shipyards would have been pushing to finish every last ship they could build, and the Orbital Elevators would have been shipping troops back and forth in preparation... Instead I find nothing but a handful of fucking TELESCOPES aimed outwards while you war with some native monstrosities. You have my sympathies for being in a pinch, but we have a duty to the entire SPECIES, not just a single planet!" Leviathan said, her voice taking on more of a growl as she suppressed the urge to crush the top of the table she was sitting at with her fingers, taking a deep breath through her nose to calm herself, then looking to Richelieu.

"Before my arrival here I was in a battle for one of our installations. The Cole Protocol states that whenever Covenant forces are sighted, all navigational archives regarding Earth or the Inner Colonies are to be wiped. As a result," the cruiser said, suppressing a growl, "I am unable to ascertain my current location, and thus I cannot offer you an argument in that regard, but also cannot therefore find anything to prove YOUR claim to be correct."

"The only thing I CAN deny is your claim at this being some kind of time travel. Such a thing is beyond any science we know of, and furthermore, if this 'Abyssal War' had in fact been in Earth's history, I wouldn't have reason to ask about It, would I?" she said, crossing her arms in front of herself on the table, leaning into the primary monitor's camera in an almost challenging manner.

"Ms Leviathan. I have two things to say about that statement..." Admiral Collingwood said as Richelieu glared at the not-Abyssal across the screen. "First, I'm going to assume that you have the equipment to do something like carbon dating, or at least, the understanding of what that means. So considering you said that your date was '500 years ahead of us'... That means that if we used carbon dating on all our archeological discoveries, then nothing should be older than at most 5 centuries?"

"200 years of human colonization amongst the stars, if that's what you were wondering about. Over 500 years from the date recorded on your calender," Leviathan corrected.

"Well, we've got discoveries that are over 5 milennia old... and then you've got the fossil records going back much, MUCH further. And if we were a colony, none of that would exist, non?" Richelieu said with a smirk.

"However, that doesn't take into account the possibility of your finds being of alien origin, and simply not having enough data to know the difference," Leviathan countered. "That said, I have no means of arguing against it otherwise either, not without seeing it in person in order to utilize that method or any other."

Richelieu gritted her teeth behind pursed lips in reply. "...Fair enough. Secondly, as for the 'time travel' thing... Okay, I have to agree with you there. If your time-line had an Abyssal War, you'd know what was going to happen. So one of two things must have occurred. Either we're NOT in your time-line and something weirder than the new normal has happened... Or whatever sent you back in time has also altered what would have happened. In which case, we'll probably want you to tell us as much about this threat as you can, so when we do get off this ever-so-precious rock, we're in the best possible position for when we run into them again, for the first time"

For a moment, the space-born ship-girl chewed on that. It was tempting, oh so tempting, to believe the possibility that she was now here BEFORE the Covenant had shown themselves, to think that she could single-handedly push humanity into a position where they wouldn't be caught off-guard by the alien menace before being able to fight back. It really was tempting... But temptation did not mean truth, and there was just too much evidence that there was something else going on for Leviathan to just ignore. That said...

"As for how either of those could have happened... Well, my staff has a term for mysteries like this, and I'm sure everyone else here is familiar with it," Richelieu said with an almost sarcastic, yet resigned look on her face. "MSSB. Or in full terminology, 'Magical Sparkly Shipgirl Bullshit.'"

Aaaaand once again Leviathan had to remind herself that she was on a planet full of superstitious idiots... again. Sighing through her nose as she pinched its bridge, the woman resisted the urge to grind her teeth. She'd probably slice her tongue if she did, and bleeding all over during an interview/interrogation probably wouldn't do well. "If 'magic' is all you have to offer as an explanation, then I really must worry for this planet's sanity..." she muttered, causing the French ship-girl to swell up like a rage-filled balloon.

* * *

"How...? How can...? This is...?" Kähler whispered to himself in German as his secretary-ship placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Admiral, Admiral, please don't..." she said, trying to keep the pleading from her voice while speaking in the same tongue.

"Bismarck, quickly, I need a notebook," he said, prompting the blonde woman to sigh and pull out one of the booklets she always kept on hand for this kind of thing. "Miss Leviathan, I hope you don't mind if I check on something here momentarily. Is that fair?" the man asked as he pulled out a pen and jotted something down while also pulling out his phone.

Leviathan's eyes slid to the German admiral as well as Richelieu before turning back to Kähler and his ship-girl counterpart. "Certainly, I have no problems with that... As it is though, we seem to have detoured from the original purpose of this discussion, so let us return to it for now."

"What are your armaments, Leviathan?" Richelieu queried, "And are there more like you among the Abyssals?"

"Given that I am still unaware of what defines an 'Abyssal' per say, I cannot say if there are those with similar capabilities as myself amongst them. I highly doubt that any UNSC vessel would countenance it, however. As for my armaments," Leviathan said, looking at Richelieu and the others, "Exact capabilities are classified and thus I cannot reveal too many specifics without violating standard regulations. In the interest of diplomacy however, I do not think it too much to state that I am equipped with mid and long range guided anti-ship missiles, a fighter/bomber wing, point defence emplacements and my MAC gun."

"I apologise for interrupting, but what is a MAC gun, precisely?" asked Goto.

"Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. Standard Anti-ship kinetic kill weapon on UNSC ships."

"A rail gun? I thought those were still in the trial stages," he replied curiously.

"A coil gun actually. More efficient and less materials-hungry than a rail gun."

"If something like that's 'standard' I'd really hate to see what passes as heavy weaponry for you," Richelieu said.

"Given that you said you can... fly into orbit... under your own power?" An officer bearing the Egyptian Navy spoke up, to which Leviathan nodded. "I'm going to assume that because you referred to travelling between stars, that you can also do that all without rapidly draining all your fuel... Are you nuclear powered then?"

"Deuterium fusion," she corrected, causing one particular dignitary to freeze up as though he'd been clocked in the back of the head.

"I see," the officer, one Gamal Abdel Mohamed, replied before looking at her straight with his hands intertwining in front of him. "Then do you carry any nuclear armaments?"

This particular question caused more than one of the attendants to stiffen up, and Leviathan KNEW that this must have been a hot topic of controversy. It was understandable. Weapons of Mass Destruction weren't to be handled lightly after all. "Nuclear weapons are not as effective outside an atmosphere due to having nothing to propagate a blast wave. As a result, such weapons are considered to be ineffective for the most part, and still require specialized permission to be used anywhere near any population centers," she said.

"But you ARE capable of being armed with them, yes?"

"...If UNSC HighCom dictated it so."

* * *

Metal screeched and cheap plastic crunched as the back of Parker's chair shattered underneath Nagato's grip. The Intel spook immediately vacated the seat as the ship-girl's eyes fastened on the monitor, her arms trembling in response while Parker started looking for something to calm her down... quickly...

* * *

"I believe that that is quite enough," Richelieu interjected, "I believe that I'm not stepping on any toes when I say that this meeting was called to figure out what the hell happened on that island first and Manila second, in addition to evaluating any new additions to the Abyssals' arsenal, not to hear some made-up story by a possible spy that probably ends in her telling us about her committing suicide or having some over-dramatic Alamo moment."

Leviathan's eyes narrowed at the French battleship with a cold glare. "And yet here we are. I have yet to hear any such questions, though I have been expecting them. Your fellows instead asked of a pertinent threat first, as well as my requests and personal capabilities, and I have answered. If you have any OTHER questions, then by all means, feel free to ask..."

"It would be pointless to ask you about the latter, seeing as you yourself stated that you had no knowledge of the Abyssal forces, but, please tell us about Manila, Miss Levi."

The blue haired woman glared in challenge to the other ship-girl through the screen, but relented. "Very well then... Ask away."

"Let's start with what you did to the naval elements," Goto said.

Leviathan gathered her thoughts momentarily, before speaking once more. "After relaying orders to my mobile forces to act as anti-air pickets, I launched my fighters and bombers to do a sweep from the North while I came in from the South. Bombardment was already starting to be fairly heavy by that time, and the buildings surrounding the area I was in were just coming under creeping fire from the offshore forces. While my Longswords took some flak along the way, I found myself under only sporadic fire, possibly unaimed, until such time as I made contact with the Abyssal forces. I opened a clear-broadcast line over radio comms and demanded that they cease hostilities. When they refused, I opened fire upon them, at which point they began actively targeting me."

"Given that the enemy did not appear willing to either surrender or retreat, I continued combat operations against them until their flagship identified themselves, challenging me to an apparent duel. After a short exchange of fire, I was able to sink the 'Princess' as she identified herself, before I became aware of the landing parties."

"How did you know to respond to this attack? Did you have any warnings ahead of time? Any sign of this occurring before the strike?" Bismarck spoke up. Her tone was neutral, rather than accusatory.

"My sensors picked up a neutrino burst along with Cherenkov radiation coming from within the bay. Given those readings are not a common natural occurance, I felt the need to investigate. A second pulse was detected moments before shells started falling on the city," Leviathan replied.

"Cherenkov radiation? Is that the dangerous kind?" Halloway asked.

"Not really. It's a common phenomenon when radioactive elements are placed in an environment where they move faster than light does," the ship-girl replied. "Combined with the neutrino burst however, I had thought that something might have come through slipspace..."

"Slipspace? As in... some kind of hyperspace or such?" Kähler said. "Why would you think that? Can you do that so close to a planet?"

"I cannot, no... But Cherenkov radiation pulses like that are common whenever any fissile material travels through a Slipspace rupture, which lead me to believe either that someone had screwed up some kind of experiment, or that there was a live nuke in the area," Leviathan said... and immediately regretted it as her listeners all went as pale as herself.


	18. Chapter 16: Old Wounds

Disclaimer: I do not own Kantai Collection or Halo. I also would like to state that while some of the names used represent real people, NONE of what I write about them here in regards to personality or viewpoints is AT ALL based on personal knowledge, only what can be found publically through things like wikipedia. So unless I managed somehow to match them by complete accident, do NOT take what's written about them to be in any way, shape, or form as representative of them. Please don't sue me for misrepresentation! Also, sorry for the lateness everyone! Given how hard this chapter was to write, I'm splitting it in half and adding the rest to the next chapter, which already has a bunch written about it. SO! Hopefully this time you'll have the next one come out in only a week or so! Wish me luck!

* * *

"Are you serious?" asked one of the Japanese chiefs of staff, his face pale as he tried to disguise the fear in his heart.

"About what? Slipspace, or a potential nuclear weapon? Given that they seem bent on destruction, I don't think it too far off to imagine that your enemies would use them if able, no?" Levi said in reply. "If you're referring to my mention of slipspace, I'll admit that it's unheard of for any human craft to travel through it while in an atmosphere, but that does not rule out the possibility of others being able to. The Covenant themselves have a mastery of it that, I'll admit, is enviable to many within the UNSC…."

"If that were the case, why didn't they use it and simply nuke Manila off the map?" Richelieu said, eyes narrowed. "Wouldn't that have made more sense for them to do?"

The cruiser shrugged. "I could not say. Given the sheer amount of landing forces they brought to bear, perhaps it was only meant as a last resort that they never got the chance to use? Or maybe it wasn't a nuke, but instead something else. The second burst could just as easily have been the source of the radiation LEAVING the combat zone rather than entering it… Perhaps an advance scout to confirm the area's vulnerability before their assault that carried a fissile material?"

Richelieu cocked an eyebrow at that. "You mean like a reactor?"

"If it wasn't shielded properly, yes," Leviathan said.

Admiral Jones hummed as he mulled that one over. "Assuming that is true, then wouldn't someone have noticed it before hand that such a ship was operating in the area?"

"Do you habitually scan your oceans for sources of neutrinos or other forms of radiation? Such things are commonplace in void warfare, but I imagine that that might not be the case for a blue-water navy, am I correct?"

The First Sea Lord was forced to concede that point, making a note to himself to speak with R&D and British Intelligence to look into setting up some kind of sensor array to double-check the Abyssal's words. Liu Yi was doing the same on his end in regards to his own country before speaking up next.

"Could you tell us about this, Ms Levi?" he said, clicking at a keyboard and bringing up a grainy image of the spaceship-girl in question on a familiar beach. "What were you doing on Manicani? Our reports show that it was hit hard by Abyssal forces, and that the majority left after succeeding, yet some stayed behind only to be slaughtered by, presumably, yourself or somebody else? Could you enlighten us on that?"

Leviathan hummed, but nodded. "That was where I first found myself on your world, waking up under a pile of debris while several Abyssals were around. They admitted to attempting to kill off every human in the area, so I struck them down."

"When you say they 'admitted' to it, you mean to say that they initiated communications first? They didn't simply attack you?"

"No, they didn't," Levi said, shaking her head with a grimace. "They seemed to be under the impression that I was similar to them. They even tried to call me 'sister'..."

"And they said straight out that their goal was to wipe out the human forces on the island?"

"Their exact words I believe were 'taking their revenge', but other than that, yes, they admitted to it. Perth seemed rather adamant that I join them for some reason…"

"Excuse me, did you say PERTH?" Halloway interrupted. "They gave you their names?"

"Just the one did. I assume that this is important?"

The American admiral clammed up at that, but his silence was only more damning. "Do you have any images of them? The ones who you confronted?"

Nodding, Levi brought up her forearm once again, tapping away at it to bring up a holographic image of the Abyssal in question, taken from her helmet cameras and sensors as the masked woman had looked up at her.

"The Light Cruiser Princess…" Halloway said, while Goto swallowed and looked extremely uncomfortable. "And the others?"

As Leviathan cycled through several other pictures from her records, the assembled naval officers leaned forward, soaking in each one like sponges. The fact that there were two Abyssal Princesses at the site gave many of them food for thought, while Goto was clenching his hands tightly on the edge of his desk. Chief of Staff Katsutoshi spoke up next, drawing the warship's attention to him. "Thank you Leviathan-san. As a further means of ensuring a diplomatic solution to this meeting, and to further our understanding of the situation, would it be too much to ask for you to provide us with these and any other recordings you have of the events leading up to your presence here?"

"Of course. I'd be happy to do so, along with the other information that I promised beforehand."

"And as a reminder for all those present, that would include what again?"

Leviathan frowned a bit, but still answered politely. "Information regarding the Covenant, their known tactics and capabilities, counter-measures that have proven effective against them in the past, as well as primers for various technologies that were intrinsic to combatting them. I imagine that the latter would easily be similarly useful against the Abyssals if utilized correctly, as well as in civilian sectors should it be deemed viable."

"Could you give us an example of some of those technologies then?" one of the Russian ambassadors requested, to which Levi sighed. This was going to take a while…

* * *

After several hours of talking in detail about several UNSC technologies, and their uses both on and off the battlefield, as well as discussions about how they could be integrated into the local situation, Leviathan finally breathed a sigh of relief. The 'debriefing' seemed to finally have come to an end, but understandably the Naval powers weren't willing to have her just go haring off, and given that Levi herself still needed resupplying, she figured that it would be best to go along with the Japanese and American contingents' 'request' that she accept their hospitality. THAT got a chuckle out of her. She'd never heard a more polite way of saying 'Please stay where we can keep an eye on you without killing us all' in all her years. The cruiser-woman wondered if anyone in ONI had ever made a similar request during their operations…

A knock came at the door to the bunker Levi was still seated in, and she turned to face the door. For a moment, there seemed to be some hesitation from whoever it was, which prompted the space-born woman to call out, "Come in!" The door then opened to reveal a young woman with long black hair held back by a seemingly horned metal headdress that her sensors suggested was some kind of radar array. The woman's asiatic features had a severity to them that was only accentuated by the deep red of her eyes, though the risque outfit she wore threw Levi for a bit of a loop. Then again, given some of the outfits that she'd seen on others, it was far from being over the top…

"Good evening. My name is Nagato, military liaison for the United States Navy Ship-girl program. I've been assigned to be your escort for time being," the woman said with a bow.

"Really?" Leviathan said, raising an eyebrow. "I won't claim to be an expert on the subject, but your name is Japanese, right? Do you mean that you're Japan's liaison to the United States Navy, or the United States liaison to Japan?"

Coughing slightly into her hand, Nagato nonetheless took the question in stride. "Due to circumstances of my summoning, I'm part of the United States Navy, attached to the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force as the Americans' liaison. It is a bit of a personal matter, so I would request that any further questions of that nature be left until another time. Is that alright?"

"Ah, I see. Very well then, I won't pry too much. I take it that you're going to be leading me to wherever I'll be staying for the duration of my visit?"

"Of course. Follow me, if you please," the Japanese battleship said, motioning with one gloved hand towards the door. Standing up, Leviathan did exactly that as Nagato turned and stepped outside, her eyes dilating as the bright light outside hit them after having gotten used to the darkened interior of the bunker. Idly, the spaceship-girl noted that the area still had its full complement of marines about, as well as the redhead that she'd seen earlier, hand still on the butt of her revolver. The young woman's face was blank, but Leviathan could have sworn that the tension in her was radiating like a lighthouse. Giving the woman a nod, Levi ignored how the ship-girl's turrets kept tracking her, deciding to focus instead on following her new guide.

The sights and sounds of a blue-water naval base were much different from the kind that Leviathan knew, yet at the same time still held within it some of the more familiar noises that she was used to. NCOs barking orders and the poor schmucks beneath them jumping to fulfill them, the engineers cursing while their tools went to work… The spaceship-girl smiled to herself, thinking that even if the salt-water air burned her nose funnily, it added its own ambience to it, along with the wind that was coming off the coast.

Turning to look out towards the water itself, visible just past a few larger buildings and the hull of a carrier that was being repaired, a large 76 emblazoned on its gantry-covered superstructure. The bay was filled with smaller craft as they moved to and fro, and in the middle of the bay a couple of young - girls? Destroyers likely - could be seen undergoing some practice maneuvers. All in all, it looked deceptively peaceful for a place central to wartime operations…

Her escort waved down a transport that was just pulling up, the ensign at the wheel giving her an eyeful before the two ship-girls mounted the back of the truck, causing the suspension to groan a little before settling. Leviathan sat down on one of the bench-like seats along with Nagato, before the vehicle started moving towards their next destination, the pale-skinned woman's thoughts kept to herself as the sun set across the bay...

* * *

Richelieu stomped her way along Port Toulon's streets, anger practically coming off of her in waves as she made her way to one of the nearby officers' mess. While it may have been evening in Yokosuka, it was only getting to be sun-up here in France, and the battleship-cum-Admiral was not a very happy ship-girl to have spent all night dealing with that mockery of an interview. Trying to wrap her head around Leviathan's bullshit was bad enough when she was tired as she was, but then turning away to look at the stack of unanswered emails and reports that she still had to sift through was enough to make even the stoic kanmusu nearly cry. Resolving that if she had to deal with this much right now it would only be with a good cup of coffee or tea to keep her going, Richelieu had left her office to get some fresh air as well as her caffeine fortification.

Opening the door to the mess, she made an immediate beeline for the buffet-line, grabbing a tray and mug before sliding down the line. Normally the breakfast lineup was empty, as it was rare to have a heavy meal in the mornings, so it was fairly easy for the woman to grab a half-dozen croissants and a bowl of cereal, before moving to the espresso machine. The machine gurgled and groaned, but sadly nothing seemed to come out. Smacking the machine irritably, Richelieu's eyebrow twitched as the machine merely coughed out a black mist before giving up entirely. "ARGH! What do I have to do to get a proper cup around here?" she growled out.

"Ask the pilots. They somehow managed to get a machine in and working…"

Richelieu blinked and looked over to the table set against the wall, where a ship-girl wearing an old French Royal Navy uniform along with an iron corset and heel-boots was seen giving a tired smile on her face to the battleship, her laugh-lined face and pale green eyes twinkling even as she sipped at her tea. "G-Gloire? When did you get back in? I thought you were still on leave?"

"About three hours ago. Still dealing with travel lag... It doesn't matter what they say, ship-girls do NOT belong on trains," the world's first Ironclad replied with a sigh before smiling again and setting her cup down. "So, what did I miss? I heard there was quite a fuss over in the Philippines a few days ago…"

Gloire's smile didn't change as Richelieu groaned. "Ugh… The Abyssals performed a massed assault on Manila. Smashed a good sized chunk of the naval forces there, and then pulled a shore invasion," she said, angling for the hot chocolate machine and hoping for better luck. Thankfully it seemed to work just fine, and the smell of artificial cocoa filled the battleship's nostrils delightfully.

"Truly? Please tell me that they were able to evacuate!"

"It's… complicated. They tried to, but in the end managed to beat back the invasion," she said, sitting down across from the other shipgirl. Normally she'd be worried about more OPSEC but given how empty the place was, and the fact that Gloire was her own secretary ship, she felt nothing about unloading her troubles onto the older woman's shoulders. "They're still figuring out everything that went on there, but right now most of the other fleets are dealing with another so called 'defection' attempt."

Gloire grimaced. "Really? Unless it happens to be a new type or something that we haven't seen before, I don't think that should matter that much… What kind are we talking about?"

"The Japanese are calling her a 'Ju-class', but essentially it's a guided missile type," Richelieu said, causing her counterpart's eyes to widen.

"Really? You mean like Jaeger?"

"Nah, this one makes that Re-class look like a hack. She's practically covered in them."

"That's… not good news," Gloire replied, pushing back a lock of auburn hair as she stared into her mug. "So the enemy is likely to have a greater stand-off advantage then."

"Likely, but we don't know for certain. Especially since…." Richelieu tapered off with a grimace, wondering how much to say as she sipped at her chocolatine.

"Since what? Not enough left of the Abyssal to dissect? I imagine that given such a capability, they wouldn't have held back in shelling her…"

"Actually… they didn't. They've got her set up in a bunker apparently."

Gloire raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Did someone get a golden bullet in on her?" she asked, only for Richelieu to shake her head.

"No, they took her in alive."

That caused the ironclad to gawk. "What?! Are you… Are they serious? After what happened all the other times…?"

"I know! I know! I tried arguing about it with them as well but… Apparently this one was part of why they were able to save Manila, so they're giving it… Special treatment," she growled.

" _Sacré bleu_... Did, did they say anything about…?"

" _Non_. I'll bet that they didn't want to bring up his name for fear of it coloring my opinions further during the questioning…" Richelieu said.

Three years prior, Chief of Staff Christophe Prazuck had given the okay at an attempt to open dialogues with the Abyssals that had been attacking European waters, an attempt that had been met with a supposedly welcome response. The Abyssals had sent a force of only six, ostensibly to discuss their reasons for their attacks, and to debate the possibility of a ceasefire.

It had been a ruse, of course. The Abyssals had gotten into the harbor, pretended to be nice… and then had 2 of them explode, killing nearly every human in the port area at the time. The remaining four immediately had begun shelling anything and everything in range, further causing casualties all along the Milhaud quays and the nearby civilian port as well. Only quick responses from offshore forces along with aerial support had put the monsters down, but in Richelieu's mind it was still too little too late.

The battleship-girl had been Prazuck's secretary ship at the time, and while the Chief of Staff had been killed, Richelieu herself had survived to fight back, keeping the attention of two of the enemy battleships on herself in a running battle along the shoreline while the remaining cruisers were targeted by missiles from french destroyers. For her 'heroic efforts', she'd been given the title of Admiral in the wake of things, and with no-one else at the time, the Prime Minister had left Richelieu in charge of naval operations until a suitable candidate could be found.

Unlike in many countries, the title of Admiral was not actually a rank in the French navy, but instead an honor, given to those who had distinguished themselves. This meant that while Richelieu had a bit more political power than most shipgirls ever saw, she was still subordinate to the Chief of Staff. While this was no problem normally, there were few officers these days who had the necessary experience and clout to take the position themselves, as most of them had been killed in the trap. This essentially meant that for all intents and purposes, Richelieu was the first ship-girl to have true command over a nation's military without a human counterpart aside from the Prime Minister himself.

It also meant that Richelieu had every reason to refuse any so-called defection ever again…

" _Mon dieu_ … I cannot fathom how badly that's going to be," Gloire said, taking a bite of her croissant as the battleship-girl nodded and did the same. "So… how DID the questioning go?"

Swallowing a piece of her pastry, Richelieu sighed. "You will NOT believe me…"

* * *

Automatic doors slid open and closed as Vice Admiral Stanforth stepped through them to his quarters, pulling at his collar and setting his hands at the back of his hips. Arching his back until the man heard his spine pop in several places, the man finally let out a sigh in the privacy of his quarters. He was getting old, and he knew it. Constantly poring over reports and view-screens -as well as meetings with self-interested corporates and politicos- didn't help with one's overall physical shape, and the constant stress of a three decade war was causing his already silver hair to start falling out along the crown of his skull. Sitting down at his desk, the vice-admiral pulled out his trusty data-pad and started to go over his ship's status again.

The gunnery decks for the MAC guns had been breached during the battle when Leviathan took a plasma bolt to the fore decks, burning into the compartments there and sending occasional fits through the ship's electrical systems that were still being dealt with. Many of the MAC's technicians were injured or dead, but those that had remained had put on emergency suits and thrown themselves right back into it, bypassing damaged capacitors and slagged conduits while exposed to the void of space to get the ship's main armaments back into the fight. Stanforth had already put in no less than ten recommendations for medals of valor for the crew chiefs… Along with the entirety of Cradle's crew, and the piles of recommendations from the captains of the other remaining ships.

Setting the pad aside, Harold stood up and moved to the cabinet built into the wall of his office, opening the compartment that was stuffed with the standard regulation uniform shirts and slacks that every navy man had. And like most navy personnel who'd been around long enough, the vice admiral found that it made a nice, secure hiding place for fragile personal belongings… Like the bottle of 60 year old Skopje whiskey he was pulling out that he'd doled out sparingly over the years, leaving only six fingers worth in the bottom. Staring at the label, Stanforth wondered how many bottles like this were still floating around, tucked away in footlockers and in desk drawers. Skopje itself had been glassed 5 years prior, along with a good many innocent lives. For a moment, Harold was tempted to put it back, preserve what was likely the last bit of some brewer's art that the world would ever see… Then he sighed and unscrewed the top before pouring himself a plastic cup of it. Art is to be enjoyed after all, not merely gawked at…

The alcohol went down smoothly, leaving a pleasant burn in his gut as he set the glass down. Truthfully, it'd been better if he'd used a proper glass, but to cart around something that would just turn into more shrapnel if the ship lurched too hard solely for the sake of drinking smacked far too much of irresponsible hedonism than Harold was comfortable with… God knew that there was already so much that he was responsible for. Sitting down heavily within the cushions confines of his desk chair, the old sailor let out a heavy sigh.

"A thousand dead up here… Sixteen hundred more on the surface again as well…" Stanforth muttered to himself grouchily.

"Plus the three hundred thousand civilian casualties reported so far," piped up a male voice from the speakers on his desk, causing the admiral to give a hot glare in its direction as Hephaestus sprang into being on the holo-tank.

"Thanks Heph, I needed that," he said with biting sarcasm as he tossed back the last of the whiskey in his glass. "Always a pleasure to know that you'll be there to count the graves for me. So, what's so important that you need me now?"

"You asked me to remind you to make that letter before you retired for the evening. As much as I know you need the rest, we won't be able to send it once we hit slipspace unless we want to broadcast our position and path..."

The old man sighed. "Right, right. Alright then, you know the drill. Secure all channels and make sure nobody's gone and bugged my office, will ya?"

"Already done sir, nothing to report there."

"Good…" he said, before pouring himself the last three fingers of whiskey and booting up the word processor.

 _2300 HOURS, JULY 18, 2552_

 _CLASSIFIED TOP-SECRET_

 _COMM-SCRIBED/PTS 9386-9_

 _00834-19223-HS / VADM STANFORTH, HIERONYMUS MICHAEL_

 _00230-00923-MP / ADM PARANGOSKY, MARGARET ORLENDA_

 _RE: OPERATION: BRAVADO_

 _Margaret,_

 _Paperwork's almost done on this end. So is the whiskey. I guess that means I'll be headed back your way before long, especially after the number I put Levi through this time around. Boatswain says she'll be sidelined for two months at least, so I've already filed with Fleet to transfer the crew to Coenwulf when I make my rounds in Sydney._

 _At any rate, this one was certainly a victory, as difficult as it is for me to call it that. I know the casualty reports are going to look ugly, but that's nothing new. We lost about half the battlegroup, as well as Cradle. Surface didn't fare much better either: Caracas, Huiren, Côte d'Azur, Silma and Enfield, all parking lots now...some because the enemy's good at what they do and others because we refused to give them the opportunity._

 _It's just been so long since we've walked away from one of these things alive. We crushed eighteen of those bastards. I can't remember the last time that happened. And now they're gone. It'll take us a few years to clean up, probably a dozen or so to fix what was done on the ground. But they're gone...that's got to count for something._

 _A file's attached with some interesting data Iroquois picked up. The Covenant were transmitting something from the planet's surface before we blew the lid off it. We're not sure what it was, but it would not surprise me in the least if it ends up being grouped with sites like Onyx, Meridian, Arcadia or even that thing Halsey's digging up on Reach._

 _Anyway, AAR is en route. Talk to you soon, maybe over tea?_

 _\- HMS_

Stanforth leaned back in his chair as he tapped the 'send' button, letting Hephaestus scan it for any tracers or such that might have planted themselves in the system before giving one last sigh of relief, swirling the whiskey in his glass before knocking it back, letting it sit on his tongue for one final moment before swallowing it down.

"Letter's planted in the reports sir, standard encryption and double layered as per protocol. She'll get it within the day once we send it through FLEETCOM," the AI said.

"Good. Set your data scavengers to delete it from your memory once it's sent and then dim the lights, will you? I'm going to hit the sack."

"Understood sir. Have a good evening," Hephaestus said, before vanishing from the holo tank. As the lights faded, Stanforth took off his duty uniform and set it into the laundry hamper next to his wardrobe, settling himself onto his bed with a sigh as the room's air conditioning brought the temperature down to a comfortable level. As the man let himself drift off into slumber, he could have sworn that he felt someone tuck the sheets around him tighter around him before placing a hand on his shoulder… a thought that brought a last little smile to the man's lips before the sandman took him...

* * *

Leviathan's eyes flicked open just as her internal clock hit 0400 hours, bringing her to full wakefulness as the dream started to fade. She sighed as she sat up, rubbing her eyes before looking at the 'window', really a monitor that showed what the weather was like outside, noting that it was still dark out. The ship-girl wasn't an expert on dreams, but Levi had to say that for the first such dream she'd had since becoming… well, herself… It could have been worse. Remembering how tired her Admiral had been after Sigma Octanus IV like that however DID serve as a reminder of her current situation. Sighing, the cruiser wondered if Harold would have approved of her actions, or if he'd have done something else? Her recollections of that part of his life were fleeting, as most of his political actions had been done either on Reach or on Earth itself, thus she could only remember how Stanforth had acted when trying to convince his fellow officers of what he had planned from her own bridge.

"Bad dreams?" Hephaestus piped up from her ear curiously.

"No… a bit of the opposite actually," she said with a slight smile as she got up from the bed. "Still, time waits for no-one. Better get ourselves ready for the grinder again and see what they've set up for repair facilities here.."

* * *

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..."

"Ammunition and fuel reserves are good for the next few weeks, due to the previous rationing of our forces. Raw materials and reagents are at a low point, but not critically so," Secretary ship Ooyodo said as she read off a clipboard, her fingers twiddling a pen between them as she stated the facts.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..."

"We've already started setting up docking areas for a relief force to come in to aid Manila in reconstruction and rescue operations. Admiral Richardson suggested that we try and establish a more fortified line there, stating that he'd be talking to the politicians for support in speaking with the Russians and the Chinese for materials. As much as it would be regrettable to do so, making Manila into a fortress would aid tremendously in the security of the area."

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..."

"What about Truk's forces? Did she report anything odd occurring in her area?" Goto asked.

"Ie, nothing out of the ordinary yet. Though she reports that she'll be stepping up her patrols in order to catch any stragglers or other forces that she may come across..."

"PleasepleasepleasePLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAASE~~~!"

"And finally we come to THIS thing," Ooyodo said, pointing down at a begging Yuubari at their ankles.

"PLEASE LET ME TALK TO HER!" the green-haired cruiser said as she gripped onto Admiral Goto's calves, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes as the man massaged his eyes with one hand.

"Yuubari... Even assuming that this woman's story is in any way true, I HIGHLY doubt that she's going to be willing to tell you anything that she hasn't already been willing to tell us, given how she already claimed that most of her materials are classified..."

"BUT IT'S THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME! Even if she's lying, how often do we get a LIVE Abyssal to grill for their technology, let alone one like this?!"

"Contain yourself Yuubari-chan! Even if these are peculiar circumstances, we can't afford to just jump at any idea that comes to mind. We still have no idea how much Leviathan-san is willing to share. She already made it clear that there are things she will and will not divulge. If you really wish to know, ask Nagato-sama to include it in her questioning later."

"She's right Yuubari. Compose yourself, hmm?" Goto said.

"...Why can't I just ask Akashi since she's going to be helping repair her at the docks?"

"Other than the fact that Akashi's likely to at least try and respect doctor-patient confidentiality?" the Japanese admiral said with a deadpan expression. "Because at this point everyone's at least willing to give Leviathan at least some measure of slack, at least in the government, and if that gets botched because we got overeager or too nosy, too fast, then there's a good chance of this all backfiring in our face and making this a worst case scenario VERY quickly.."

"Oooooohhhhhh… fiiiiiiiiine," the young ship-girl said as she got up off the floor. "Still can't believe that we're getting this opportunity and yet I have to wait… Any chance of being able to be assigned to the intel jockeys who are going to be looking over the info first? I'm sure I can help out there!"

Ooyodo's reply was an immediate knife-hand to the cruiser's head. "No means no, Melon-head!"


	19. Omake Chapter 3: Making the List

AN: I don't know why these omakes wouldn't leave me alone, but now that they're done, hopefully I can actually FINISH the next chapter! So to tide you over, here you go!

* * *

 **Rule XX14: Do not give out untested weaponry to destroyers. ESPECIALLY if they came from the SCIENCE! girls!**

An explosion of energy ripped apart the night in a torrent of neon blue light, accompanied by a tower of swirling globules of energy that danced in the air, cascading around the base in a display that would awe and humble any who viewed it... unless you happened to live at Yokosuka. Then it was a Tuesday.

Growling as she threw her blanket off and marched over to the window to look out at the fading glow, Leviathan glowered at the light, letting her eyes adjust until she spotted the culprit at fault. Grumbling dark and foul oaths beneath her breath, the cruiser quickly threw on some PT gear and stomped her way out of the barracks over to the docks, where a certain destroyer was lifting an archaic looking weapon up in both hands with a near demonic grin of glee on her face. The object began to glow again as the smaller ship-girl looked out over the open ocean and breathed in.

"Ex... CALIBU-"

 **"UNSC LANCELOT! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT TESTING EXPERIMENTAL WEAPONS WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION!?"**

The destroyer in question let out an 'Eep!' and nearly dropped her new faerie-made sword in surprise, clutching it to her chest after catching it before turning to her flagship. Bright blue eyes shone beneath curled blonde bangs that were the only part of her hair not held back in a ponytail. "Oh, uh... Hi Levi. Umm... Well you see..."

"Bad enough that the Admirals are going to have our heads for borrowing their faeries for new projects, but you decide to test it _in the middle of the goddamn night off the main docks?!_ Seriously Lance, this is too much..."

"I'm sorry... I just... I get a little excited with them, you know? I don't get asked to do much other than patrols, so when Yuubari and the others asked..."

"Wait wait wait wait... Yuubari was in on this too?" Levi asked, to which Lancelot nodded. "Please tell me she didn't try to power it with those pinched-fusion drives that she was testing... And that THAT'S why the blast off that thing was blue instead of gold?"

"...Okay," Lancelot said with a small smile, which did NOTHING to convince her flagship of her innocence.

"Lancelot..."

"I can't lie if don't answer."

"God damn it..." the cruiser said, palming her forehead to try and mitigate the headache that she knew was going to form. "Fine, get the hell out of here before the MPs arrive. I'll make sure to tell them it was another of Yuubari's experiments. They're used to that by now..."

The little destroyer's smile grew wider as she hefted her gold-and-blue decorated sword over her shoulder and began skipping down the docks back towards the labs, pleased that her new sword not only worked as requested, but didn't even explode once! It was a new record for one of Yuubari's experiments, and Lancelot was happy that it was this one that it happened with.

"And for God's sake Lancelot, if you start dressing in Lolita outfits and making comments about how 'Hunger is the Enemy', I will wrap that thing around your neck and feed you to the submarines!"

* * *

 **Rule XX15: Make sure you know what your fellow ship-peoples' words MEAN before you go assuming things!**

Large, bulbous eyes stared forward, seemingly magnified by the glass of the fish bowl into comical size as the creature who owned them opened and closed its mouth rhythmically, seemingly gulping at nothing at the creature across from it. From within the fish bowl, a goldfish did the same, unable to really do anything else as its tiny brain could not fathom what the giant in front of it was trying to do...

"Inquisitor, what the hell are you doing?"

...Or for that matter, the giant's compatriot. "Huh? Oh, just watching the fishy Fin! I didn't know they came in such shiny colors!"

"Well, could you stop trying to imitate it at least? You're drawing enough stares as it is..."

The ship-girl pulled away from the counter and waddled over to the larger of the two where their guide, a local submarine named Iku was waiting. UNSC Infinity was an amazon of a woman, constantly having to duck anytime she got near a doorway, and not always succeeding, with a well-defined figure and curves that practically fell out of a magazine cover. Her hair color was a combination of red and white that was only just dark enough not to be immediately pegged as pink, while her pale skin bore a handful of freckles dusting the cheeks. The super-carrier's honey colored eyes normally sparkled, but right now they were half-lidded in muted exasperation at her companion's antics while their swimsuit-clad guide merely gawked.

As for the former CCS-class Battlecruiser Pious Inquisitor, her appearance was not nearly so... picturesque... At least, not from a human standpoint. The girl's squat stature, thick stumpy legs, and gorilla like arms were enough to mark her as an alien, but the iridescent purple and green armor with a disk-like hull rigging on her back reminiscent of a methane tank solidified it. To anyone who'd seen Levi's files, they would have immediately thought that she was an Unngoy, the race of short aliens that were often used as cannon fodder by the Covenant. The only thing that seemed any different was the mark of the Fleet of Sacred Consecration, which had been scratched and then replaced multiple times from the looks of it, and now sported a hand-made and rather crude representation of the UNSC's eagle and globe symbol.

Trundling up to the human-based ships, Inquisitor's innocent seeming eyes looked up at the two with bright curiosity. "So! Finny says you're going to show us around? I'll admit, it's my first time on a human world! Well, any world at all really... But that just means this'll be more fun! So, where we going first?"

Iku, who'd been drafted into guiding the two around by dint of being next in line on Goto's shit-list for one too many indecent exposures, gulped a bit as she realized just what she might be getting into... She'd already seen a couple of space-ship girls running around, but this was the first time that she'd ever seen an honest-to-kami alien! On the one hand, this was DEFINITELY something she could now cross off her bucket list. On the other though, she was kind of disappointed. I mean, they didn't even have any tentacles! "Well, first I'll take you on a bit of a tour round the barracks, then we'll head to the PX and the main thoroughfare. If you'll follow me?" she said, plastering on what she hoped was a welcoming smile as she led the two away.

A few hours later Iku admitted to herself that if she ever came across another reactor-powered ship-girl, she would get someone else to back her up. Infinity was fairly professional for a newbie, but Inquisitor was like a destroyer on a sugar rush with how she kept on asking questions and running around to investigate anything that caught her googly eyed gaze. Nothing seemed to slow her down! For a moment, the lewdmarine wondered if she could pawn the job off on someone else if she asked reeeeeaaaally nice, but thankfully both of the spaceship-girls' stomachs started rumbling, giving Iku the excuse she was looking for to take a break. As the blue and pink-haired submarine pushed open the doors to the officer's cafeteria, she smiled at the scent of hot chow and coffee. The place was packed with sailors, ship-girls, ship-boys, and the occasional marine, but most of them were too engrossed in their food or their own conversations to stare too much... "And here we have our home away from home! Everything you could ever want for convenient and good tasting food at any hour. Mamiya changes the menu every now and then to keep things interesting, and even has dishes for special events!"

Looking back at her pair of tag-alongs, Iku knew she'd hit paydirt as Infinity's eyes focused on the buffet line, licking her lips at the trays of meat, vegetables, rice, soups, and more. "Everything you say?" the super-carrier asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

"Everything and anything you'd like! All you have to do is ask!" Iku said with a grin that quickly turned lascivious. "And if you ask nicely, I might even be able to arrange a specialty or two of my own, if you're ever interested..." she said flirtatiously with a wink.

"Ohhhhh... So you can show us the nipples then?" Inquisitor asked.

The ENTIIRE cafeteria froze at that, like a record player scratching off to a stop. All eyes turned to the trio of ship-girls, with Iku gawking at the blatant breach of conduct while Infinity's eyes had gone wide. For a solid five seconds there was total silence, and then a slow clapping came from one of the tables. "Wow Iku... Not even a DAY and your reputation's already gone interplanetary," said the incarnation of USS Harder, the sub-boy giving a shit-eating grin at his compatriot's situation. "I'd call that a record, but I'm pretty sure that Goto's going to call it an infraction..."

Iku turned back to Inquisitor while Infinity covered her eyes with her hand, trying to pretend this wasn't happening. To her dismay, the alien cruiser looked flabbergasted at everyone's response, before looking up at the sub-girl with wide-eyed innocence. "What are they talking about?" Iku's eyes widened at the same time Infinity's did, and the two locked eyes on each other with a knowing fear in their gaze. The larger of the two went to speak, but I-19 beat her to it.

"Nagato's forbidden me from answering those questions anymore... You're on your own!"


	20. Chapter 17: New Scars

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Kantai Collection, or I'd be able to do this professionally instead of on a fanfic site!

AN: Sorry for this being so late, RL got the better of me and writer's block. Special thanks go to all the people who gave me feedback and helped prod me into finishing this one. There were going to be more parts to this, but it felt too much to do that, so I'm putting those two scenes into the next chapter. Look forward to it!

 _Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other languages  
_

 **Bold - Jarring events**

* * *

Repair ship Akashi gulped as she watched Nagato come in with their new 'guest'. This wasn't the first time that she'd gotten the chance to study Abyssal tissue or materials, but those had just been samples. Hull fragments taken from battlefields after the enemy had fled or been destroyed, pieces of shells pulled out of injured ship-girls after they'd gotten back to dock, even a few wrecks of Abyssal fighters fished out of craters or shallow waters once everything was said and done. Standing in front of a living, breathing, Abyssal that could VERY well hurt her if she did something that the woman didn't like was a far cry from the safe little lab setup that she and Yuubari had on base for such studies… Wainwright didn't look much happier either, judging by the way that he tried to suppress a grimace. At least she had him to work with today. He had the most… in-depth experience with such things, as limited as they'd been in getting access to proper research materials, so Akashi knew she'd be relying on him as much as he'd be relying on her.

Nagato had contacted them the night before of course, just so that this wouldn't be a total shock to them, but she had also given them a bit of a vague warning. Apparently they weren't going to like everything that they were going to hear, but Admiral Goto wanted any details found in their reports kept absolutely classified for now, so if it sounded ridiculous it would be up to HIM to decide what was done about it, not them.

As the yellow-eyed woman looked around the docks office, the repair ship took her physical build into view. Tall and straight-backed, the Abyssal looked like someone stepping out of a recruitment picture, with sharp features including high cheekbones and slightly squinted eyes. Her expression was a mix of cautious and controlled, as though she were trying to analyze everything that she was seeing while remaining on alert and hiding her observations.

"Leviathan, I'd like to introduce you to our two medical specialists, Doctor Wainwright and Specialist ship Akashi. They'll be helping you with any repairs you might require," Nagato said, stepping to one side to leave a path between the Abyssal and the two.

The woman looked them both over again before offering a hand. "My name is Leviathan, pleased to meet you. I believe the local parlance is ' _yoroshiku onegaishimasu_ '?"

Akashi nervously took the proffered hand, noting that it didn't feel any warmer or colder than anyone else's hands on average. "Ah, _hai… Yoroshiku onegaishimasu_ ," she replied. "I hope to live up to your expectations."

That seemed to be agreeable to Leviathan as she stepped back, looking at the examination bed that was normally used for basic check-ups before reaching up to her collar. Apparently the clasps for her outfit were hidden just behind the front panels, as an audible click came with each manipulation of the Abyssal's fingers. Akashi's eyes ran over Leviathan's form again as she removed the jacket, noting that the armored panels on her left sleeve seemed part of the outfit, and that the tac-pad along her inner arm was a separate piece that simply connected to them.

What caught her eye most though were the black, swirling marks along her limbs, seeming to twine together like different currents while surrounding several glyphs. "Oh? Are these something you got yourself?" Akashi asked as the woman set her jacket onto the examination bed.

"Hmmm? Ah… no. They seem to have come with me," Levi replied, looking at the ones on her forearms in particular. "Most UNSC ships don't have markings save for name-plates… but I woke up with these."

The pink-haired kanmusu gave a thoughtful look at the tattoos as well, noting the leanness of her patient's limbs, the muscles hiding just barely under the surface and rippling with each flex of Levi's fingers. "Do they have any special meaning?"

That seemed to get a small grin out of the Abyssal. "Mostly? They're service badges. My air-wing, my infantry contingent… and my crest."

"Your crest? As in your personal crest?"

"Yes," Levi said, looking specifically at the shark-like image on her right arm. " _Feroces fortuna iuvat…_ "

Wainwright clicked a pen as he looked from the two women to his papers. "Okay, we're just going to start off with some basic questions while Akashi goes over you, so that we can establish a baseline, okay?"

"Fair enough. As long as it's not anything too invasive," Levi said seriously, letting her hands fall to her sides.

"That's fair. Akashi here will grab your height and weight, and do a basic check-up while we talk, and then we'll go from there," he said. His partner nodded as well, before motioning for the Abyssalized woman to step over to a scale with meter-sticks attached. While Akashi manipulated the device to get her basics, using a stepping stool to aid her given Leviathan's height, Wainwright got himself more comfortable before asking the first question. "Name?"

"Leviathan," the Abyssal said as she watched Akashi circle around her, jotting down notes on a clipboard of her own while the human wrote down her answers.

"Class?"

"Marathon Heavy Cruiser."

"Any appellations to that? CAV? CAG?"

Leviathan blinked at that. "No, just CA, if you're going by that method. All UNSC craft use missiles, and everything above destroyer tonnage field small-craft as well. No point in over-complicating things."

Wainwright blinked at that. "All of them?"

"As long as I've been around for, yes."

"Is that a logistical choice, or a doctrine choice?" Nagato asked.

"Both. Always handy to have your own escorts, and they're useful for scouting in harder to reach areas."

"Well… damn…" he said, somewhat impressed. "Alright then. Umm, age? If that's not too sensitive a question?"

Leviathan cocked her head at that. "Why is that an issue?"

Wainwright coughed. "Well, some of the girls are… disinclined to admit when they were built. Since most of them, and you, look like young women… Well, not everyone likes to admit their age, you know?"

"Hmmmm," Leviathan said as she stepped off the scale. "41 years service then should be adequate. That's from commissioning forward."

Jotting that down, Wainwright blinked. "Previous life service only?"

"...Yes," she replied after a moment, a grimace slipping out of her otherwise calm image.

"Any sister ships in service?"

That caused her to relax a little, much to the doctor's surprise. "Yes. Quite a few actually."

"Any that you'd mind sharing the names of or….?"

A sort of chuckle came out of the woman's lips as she felt Akashi wrapping a blood pressure cuff over her bicep, the repair ship's eyes again trailing over the tattooed insignia along her shoulder. "Well, there's Marathon, the nameship. Then there's Hannibal, Canberra, Baron of Hope, Say My Name…"

"...I'm sorry, 'Say My Name'? Seriously?" Wainwright asked, incredulous.

"Yes. Except for name-ships, roughly half of the UNSC's vessels were named by their first commanding officers. There are some traditions that they follow for naming, but for the most part, it's an honor to be the one naming a ship. Sadly, not all who do so are poets, and some… have a bit more crass sense of humor… or a love of irony," Levi said with a small grin.

The two medical professionals shook their head as Akashi pulled away the pressure cuff, pulling out an ophthalmoscope and bringing it up to the Abyssal's glowing eyes. The repair ship had only seen dead ones before where the glow had died out, so looking into Leviathan's eyes was somewhat new. To her mild surprise it was looking into a fireplace. The irises seemed to roil slightly, like flames trapped behind glass, while the pupils were deep pits that held a light of their own, like the end of a tunnel. Yet the dark held its own presence, as though something else were looking through... Blinking away some spots from her own eyes to try and get rid of that feeling, Akashi moved to the woman's ears next, trying to get past an irritated looking engineer fairy while Wainwright continued his questionnaire.

"Alright then. Besides your height and weight, you mind if we get your length and beam? Just for completeness…"

"Eleven hundred and ninety two meters in length, two hundred and ninety three wide. Three hundred and seventy five tall."

THAT caused the doctor to drop his pen afterwards. "I'm… sorry? Did you mean feet, not meters?"

"No, that was in meters," was her reply, to which both human and ship-girl stared at Leviathan like she'd grown a pair of extra heads, whilst the still-silent Nagato looked impressed.

Wainwright's jaw tried to work for a moment, before turning to the battleship as though looking for confirmation, who merely nodded as though to say 'Yes, this is what I was referring to.' "I… see. I don't suppose we can add tonnage while we're at it…?"

"Nine point eight million tons in standard configuration, unstocked."

"N-nine… point…" Akashi stuttered, stepping back as her brain tried and failed to visualize what the woman was saying. It took the Japanese ship-girl a moment to snap back to reality as she put a hand to her forehead, only to turn and glare at Nagato, who had the gall to look like this was a surprise to her as well. "If this is a joke, I'm not amused."

"I assure you, this is not a joke," Leviathan replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "One hundred and ninety one centimeters of Titanium-A battleplate over all major combat facings, multiple fifty millimeter point defence cannons, multiple anti-ship and anti-fighter missile pods and my heavy MAC gun. And while I may not have sustained an excessive amount of damage during the action at Manila, I still require some of it to be repaired and rearmed..."

Akashi simply gave the woman a blank stare, before turning to her human counterpart like a turret tracking a target. "I think we're going to have to see this to believe it. Shall we take her to the Factory proper then and get this sorted out?"

Both Wainwright and Leviathan raised an eyebrow at that, each for different reasons, before the man simply shrugged. "Yeah, I think we've got a basic rundown so far… Anything else, we can do there I guess," he said, turning to the taller ship-girl. "If you'll follow us please?"

Nodding, Levi grabbed her jacket again and followed the two through the back of the doctor's office, Nagato bringing up the rear towards what looked like a machine shop…. Until they got close enough to see who was working in it.

The cruiser's eyes widened in shock as she saw that half of the tables and shelves carried not just tools, but seemingly miniature workshops of their own! Assembly lines, welding torches, sheets of plate metal and other materials all being used by thumb-sized individuals with heads that seemed too large for their squat little bodies, some of whom stopped to lift the visors of tiny welder's masks to look at the newcomers. There were normal sized tools and benches as well, but for now the only activity was coming from the various fairies themselves as they hammered and bolted things together…

Akashi led them past all of this though with the air of someone perfectly at home in their environment, which she likely was, and towards a wide, sliding door that she pulled open to reveal a small pool… no, a dry dock in miniature, and turned on the fluorescent lights above. "Welcome to the Factory," she said. "We do major repairs elsewhere in the docks, but for other things this is where the magic happens."

Levi looked around, frowning a bit at the pool in particular. "So this is where you prefer to do examinations then? Or is this a special case?"

"'Special case' would work in this instance. Would you do us a favor and call on your rigging, please?"

"My what?"

"Your rigging, or hull if you'd prefer. What you manifest in order to fight with?" Akashi said.

"Ah… Very well then," the pale cruiser replied, before taking one more look around the place. As the others stood back, Leviathan took a deep breath, letting her mind conjure the mental image of herself once more… The feel of her reactors humming, of whistles and alerts blaring through internal speakers, of bulkhead doors opening and closing as systems and weapons checks were tallied and called out by engineers and officers alike…

For the three observers, it looked like the Abyssal woman was surrounded in a dense fog, or smoke, swirling about her form as it seemed to 'catch' on the edges of phantom forms. Slowly these forms become more and more substantial, becoming thick plates of silver-grey-and-black metal that wrapped around Leviathan's body, coalescing into small turrets and panels covered in hatches which dotted her limbs and torso in symmetrical patterns. Nagato's eyes narrowed a bit as Leviathan's head was enveloped in a helmet that covered all of her features, the toothy visor reminding her of one of those super sentai shows that the destroyers (and some cruisers) liked to watch, noting the bold lettering along the crown of its right side that had first clued her into the Abyssal's oddity a week ago.

Wainwright noted that the rigging itself was seemingly more focused along Leviathan's upper torso, as opposed to most ship-girls he'd seen who had their hulls attach along the waist and lower back. There were always outliers of course, what with MSSB causing no end of headaches for things, but it did make for an interesting note. The legs as well, covered in boots that forced Leviathan to take a step like she was climbing a stair as they added several inches to her height, gave the image of weight and size to the Abyssal that she didn't have previously.

Akashi however was more focused on the damages visible on the armor. Several of the hatched missile pods had been blown open, covered over now by slapped-on plates marked with yellow and black stripes, and there were dents and pockmarks all over her. Surprisingly there was a large crack in the plating along Leviathan's right side. It didn't seem to go all the way through, it was the only facing of the armor that showed anything but superficial damage. There was some kind of material sealing the crack, a silvery metal that made it look almost like a scar, but the repair ship got the feeling that it was only a temporary patch job, just like the plates over the hatched areas.

Of course, this was just the surface observations. Her fairies were showing their own nervousness as they grabbed their tools and appeared along her limbs, their own perspective of Leviathan's size reflecting in Akashi's grimace. "Alright, if you don't mind, I'd like to let my engineers get an up-close inspection of the damage, is that alright?" she asked.

Leviathan looked down at the fairies, the maw-like visor making it look like she was trying to decide whether she should eat them or ignore them. "And what… exactly are they going to do in order to accomplish this?" the cruiser asked.

Gulping nervously, Akashi forged ahead. "Well, I'll be transferring them to your hull and… um… Well, they'll try and figure out what can be done with the materials we have on hand to help you and… Well, they'll basically just want to tour the damaged sections. U-under escort of your own crew, of course!"

Leviathan's visor cleared, revealing a face that looked IMMENSELY uncomfortable with the suggestion. "You… want me... to let these… _beings_ … inside me to run around?" she said with transparent wariness.

"Y-yeah… It's how we, um, how we make sure that nothing goes wrong with it. You know, making sure that systems are compatible and such?" Akashi replied with a bit of hope. As Leviathan continued to stare at the fairies and her, the two other occupants of the room pretended to find the walls so much more interesting. "This…" Akashi muttered to herself. "This might take a while…"

* * *

"What is that you're looking at sir? Constellations?" the German battleship Bismarck asked as she stood across from her admiral's desk. Admiral Kähler had called her in after the day's work because he'd said that he had wanted her opinion on something, and had now found the time to do so.

"A preliminary version of the star charts that Leviathan asked about, yes. I was just going over some of them while thinking about the meeting," the man replied, clicking a link on his computer while looking at the papers in front of him.

"Oh? What about it? I mean, there was a LOT covered..." Bismarck said. Indeed it HAD gone for quite a while, to the point where they'd needed to adjourn in order to collate all that they'd discovered and make their reports. Kähler had gotten back a rather insulting response from the BMVg in regards to the claims put forth, at least until some of the footage had been sent up. The battleship was certain that Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen had found the claims of a UN-based fleet to have been amusing, especially with her still being the favorite for becoming the next NATO Secretary General despite the war's effects on international politics. The idea that the UN Peacekeepers might be able to claim this 'Leviathan' as their own was probably shaking a few realms of thought.

"I was referring to her introduction. We asked her for her place of origin, and she gave a designation of 'Epsilon Eridani'. At first I thought it meant an Abyssal base but..." he said, turning his monitor so that Bismarck could see.

"A planet?"

"A system actually, though the fact that Leviathan claims that she was built on its SECOND planet is interesting... We've so far only discovered and verified one planet in the system, at least from what I've found from reliable sources... but there are theorized to be two more there," he said, bringing up a picture.

"Is that... a red Jupiter?" Bismarck asked as she leaned in.

"Just an artist's rendition. But basically a Jupiter sized planet, yes. There's also two asteroid belts, with something thought to be between them to clear out that area. So while we don't know for certain, there COULD be something there that our visitor would call 'home'."

This caused the blonde battleship to sigh as she leaned back. "And yet more fuel for the conspiracy theorists for their 'alien menace' stories," she said. God did she hate those ones... Not because they were wrong, that much was obvious to any shipgirl or those who were involved with them, but because the crazier ones amongst them had once managed to get in close and hit her in the face with some kind of bleach/silver/bug-spray combination while screaming 'Get out body snatcher!' during a publicity event. Suffice to say that particular individual was now in a padded cell, but even four years later Bismarck couldn't go near a janitor's closet without flinching at the smell.

"Yes, well... Hopefully we won't have to deal with them for this," Kähler said as he stacked the papers on his desk, correctly guessing what his subordinate was thinking about. "Still, it means at least we'll be able to compare any information she gives us with what our own scientists have discovered."

" _Ja_... Do you think though that we can trust what she says about her technologies though? Some of them beg belief..."

"Indeed. I'm a little more suspicious about the ones that AREN'T though. I would have expected someone claiming to be from outer space to have some fancy laser or energy weapons, but..."

Bismarck frowned as she remembered the look on Leviathan's face at that particular question, as though she'd bitten into a lemon and watched someone's dog crap on her lawn at the same time. "She did seem upset when we mentioned that."

"Caught that as well, did you?" Thorsten said with a smirk. "It seemed like she was rather perturbed about that subject as well. Almost contemptuous and, possibly, derisive in fact."

"Hmm, a member of the 'gun club', most likely," Bismarck replied with a smirk of her own.

"Possibly... It's certainly less fantastical that she uses technologies that we at least can theorize, but that is something for engineers and scientists to compare notes on more than myself..." he said, shaking his head.

"To say nothing of some of what she offered..." Bismarck replied as she picked up one of the analyst's reports to read. She may have been Kähler's secretary ship, but a lot of the reports themselves were still handled by regular staff.

"Indeed. The idea of mass-producing these coil-guns for defence and upgraded guided missiles... I'll bet somebody's happy with that. Missiles have been the world's biggest edge against the Abyssals for some time, to be able to produce more efficient ones would be even better. I'm quite happy with the offer of medical information too, most wouldn't think that that would be a priority, but the real prize is that hydrogen engine that she showed…"

"True," Bismarck said as she flipped over to another page. "The oil crisis has hit everyone hard… If the means for replacement is viable enough, then I imagine a lot of people are going to be happy."

It was no surprise really that almost all of the offshore oil rigs had been targeted by the Abyssals and either destroyed or captured, leaving the oil in enemy hands and creating a massive hole in the world's oil and gasoline production. While it didn't negate things completely, the civilian population especially was practically in another depression due to the rise in gas and oil prices, and some places just couldn't afford to supply it. Alternative energy sources were being pushed into production more, and electric cars were more common, but that didn't make them necessarily cheap to make or produce. To have an engine that could subsist on just tap water or sea water… It would be a real godsend to many, and depending on how easy they were to make, it could go a long way to easing economic tensions.

Kähler smiled at her, no doubt picking up her thoughts. "Most assuredly. Still, I really do wonder how much forethought our pale friend has put into this..."

The blonde battleship raised an eyebrow as she continued to browse through the report, more Abyssal surface activity near Jan Mayen, likely in response to Tirpitz's campaign to root out the Abyssal whaling and convoy operations around the island. The thought of her sister's raiding turning the tables on the Abyssals from their usual tactics never failed to brighten her day. "You believe that she should have withheld that information?"

"From one standpoint it would make sense. Give enough to whet the appetite and bait the stick, so to speak, but do not offer too much, or you don't have enough to keep them coming. Either she's got a lot more that she feels she can dole out, or she's not thinking of anything long term in regards to that. Given her behavior, I'm inclined to believe the latter, and if Leviathan wishes for a long term cooperation, she might be offering too much too soon for her own good."

"But surely we can use anything that is workable, _ja_? Why should she hold back if it would only be detrimental? Or do you also believe her to be a Trojan as Richelieu seems to?"

"I never said that it would be necessarily a good thing, certainly not for us. But given her claims, it puts her in a rather precarious position," Thorsten said, closing the folder of star charts before folding his hands in front of him. "Without something more to offer, many of the governments would see little use in cooperating with what they would refer to as a 'rogue' ship-girl except peripherally. This means that if Leviathan finds herself cut off from those she considers her superiors for too long, she'll have little to offer beyond her martial uses, and in that regard I dare say that most will be suspicious of her. Given her likely supply needs..."

Bismarck grimaced at that, starting to see the point that her admiral was making. "She's not likely to make too many long term friends if she can't continue to offer more to counterbalance the trust issues, you mean. And therefore will have problems with resupplying herself without an organization backing her."

"Ship-girls are far easier to supply and maintain than traditional ships, but they still need far more than a normal person does, especially once in combat. I worry that Leviathan's needs might be difficult to take into account as well, and with priority being given to each nations' own fleets, she'll likely be forced to find some way to fill in the void..."

"Are you planning on offering to do so?"

The man sighed. "I've proposed it to the government, but they want more information first. I can't blame them, but I worry that if we don't at least put a proposal in front of Leviathan before she leaves, then someone else will, and that will color things for when... if Leviathan returns."

"Crooked logs still make straight fires, my dear Admiral. Don't think too hard on it, we'll plan out a rough outline first and deal with the problems when they arise," Bismarck assured the man with a smirk.

* * *

Leviathan lay back on the bed that she had been loaned, staring up at the ceiling while her fingers entwined themselves behind her head. The cruiser's hat and coat were tossed on the bed next to her, leaving her in the PT shirt and her uniform pants, uncaring if her boots dirtied the blanket atop of it as she frowned. The last two days had been rather stressful, adding to the LONG list of things that had occurred since she'd arrived on the planet. Besides the rather heated topics that had cropped up in the opening statements of her question and answer session, the fighting before it, the questions about her current circumstances and how they came to be, her head was starting to twist itself into knots. While it would likely take a while for either she or the local governments to start really following through on what was agreed upon, Leviathan was simply glad for a chance to unwind a little after Akashi's checkup. It still felt weird to have those tiny… people… inside of her, even after knowing what her crew was, and the sensation of something foreign moving along her decks still sent a shiver up her spine as she thought about it.

Shaking her head, Levi turned to her tacpad and plugged in the headphones she'd picked up back before Manila, feeling more than hearing as Hephaestus connected to them. "So… That was a thing that happened," she said.

 _"Indeed. Bit of a risk too, but I can't deny that we're going to need to make some compromises in order to get any trust with them_ ," the AI said. " _At least they didn't poke around your electronic systems too much._ "

"Yeah, I think it best if we kept you as hidden as possible. I have no idea how they'd react at this point, given everything else. Still, at least we're making progress. How much did she see exactly?"

 _"Enough I think to know that she's got her work cut out for her. I think one or two of those 'fairies' of hers had a fit trying to get a sample from the armor._ "

Levi chuckled at that. "Yeah, that was amusing. Still, hopefully they can come up with something to help me out with," she said, sitting up from the bed and looking to a pile of books on the desk. "Huh, what's this?" she said, taking up one of them. They seemed to be a simple design, with the words written in a mix of Japanese with English translations within, and entitled with the simple and yet upbeat words "So you've found yourself becoming a ship-girl!"

This caused the cruiser to snort a little. "Did they really write this for adults, or is this the children's version?"

"Given that their destroyers all look like ten year olds? Likely the latter…"

Leviathan whirled around, pulling the turret pistol out of her thigh rig and pointing it in the direction that the voice had come from, seeing nothing at first but knowing that someone was in the room… Someone she hadn't detected. "Identify yourself," she demanded, her voice hardening as her finger tightened on the trigger.

"Really Levi? Points for reactions, but you really need to work on your paranoia…" the voice replied, before the air seemed to shimmer with golden hexagons. Sitting in the corner chair near the bed with legs crossed, a woman appeared as she pulled the hood back from a cloak about her shoulders. Her curvaceous form was the kind that wouldn't have been out of place in a modelling magazine, and wore a black outfit so form-fitting that she must have been poured into it. Pale skin with equally pale lips curled into a small smile as amusement danced in blood-red eyes that glowed like heated metal, all framed by locks of black hair that ran like silk waterfalls down her shoulders. Like Leviathan, her features were primarily Romanian, or perhaps Hungarian in appearance, but with a hint of Russian. "Personally, I'd start with the one about the differences between this conflict and the one 70 years ago. Apparently it's common for those around here to confuse the two on first arrival…"

"I'll ask again, who… are… you?" Levi said, zeroing in on the woman's face.

"Really Levi? _Really_? I've been your shadow for how many years, and THIS is your reaction to finding me on your stern?" the woman said with a suppressed chuckle, causing Leviathan to frown, until a thought cropped up in her mind.

"Umbra? _Edge of Umbra_ is that really you?" she asked incredulously.

"Surprise!" came the woman's response. Setting one hand on her knees and resting her chin on the other with a sardonic smile, she stared at the shocked cruiser for a bare moment before speaking again. "What, no welcome back for an old friend?"

"If by 'friend' you mean 'watchdog'…" Levi said in a deadpan tone.

"Ouch, someone's developed a bite to their tongue. Any particular reason?" the woman asked in reply.

"Oh I don't know, it might have something to do with having been stuck on a foreign planet with no clue what's been going on, only to find a fucking _prowler_ popping up in my bedroom without warning!"

"And isn't that the highlight of the day?" Umbra said, tapping her chin with a dainty finger. "Why, it does seem like such a novelty compared to… oh, say… turning into a human after having been blown to pieces in humanity's worst conflict to date?"

Leviathan's eyes narrowed into slits at that, before slowly putting her weapon into its holster. "Point… Alright then, first question, when did you get here?"

"Here as in your room, or here as in on base?"

"Here as in this _planet_ , smartass…"

"Oh, same time as you from what I can tell."

Leviathan stared blankly at the prowler for a good ten seconds. "You're telling me… You've been here all this time, and not ONCE DID YOU FUCKING DECIDE TO SHOW YOURSELF TO ME?!"

Umbra winced at the woman's volume. "Keep it down, you don't want to alert any of your neighbors now, do you?" she said. "And besides, you know ONI's protocol. 'Never reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary', even the fleet commanders at times."

"And now…?"

"Well, there's somewhat of a lack of knowledge going around, and you've done a surprisingly good job of ingratiating yourself to the locals _sooooo_ …" she said, before smiling up in a 'friendly' manner. "I figured it would be best to swap notes in person."

Levi processed that for a moment before letting out a frustrated combination of growl and sigh. "Fine, so you've been sneaking around doing your spy thing while I've been playing diplomat, and now you want to touch base so we can... What? See what each of us has found out that the other hasn't?"

"Correct. I figured that given what I've been looking into, it COULD verify how much of it is accurate and how much is edited by government forces or just civilian misinformation."

"And what HAVE you been looking into exactly? And where?" Levi asked.

"Pretty much the same things you've been asking our… 'hosts'," Umbra said, pulling out what looked like a tablet and scrolling through some of the things on its screen. "Star maps, local history, current happenings and the like… So far it's been a pretty interesting, and distressing read."

"You mean you got them? Where from?"

"The Internet of course. You DO realize that it's pretty much available anywhere, at anytime, right?"

Leviathan shuddered. "You actually look to that… _smut library_ for info?"

"It's not all smut Levi," the stealth vessel said. "There's actually quite a haul of info here if you're willing to sift through the dross. More than I'd see on most colonized worlds. And so little of it is truly monitored. It's a security gap you could fly the entire Eridani fleet through…"

Leviathan shook her head as she sat down at the desk's own chair, feeling a headache coming on. "Ugh… So, you managed to find something useful then? What is it?"

"Well, aside from some rather primitive star-charts regarding local space, I've been looking through their news to find out more about our own… situation," Umbra stated, flipping a lock of her hair back over her shoulder. "As you've seen, we're not the first 'ship-girls', as they say here, to have popped up. According to the news, they've been doing so for the last five years, pretty much since the beginning of this war. There's a lot of speculation as to the source of them, but for the most part they've been accepted as a general rallying point, both for civilian morale and for military personnel."

"Really? Where did it first happen?"

"Again, that's mostly conjecture. Some say Japan, others say the United States, others say Europe… And others are claiming that they've been around for a lot longer, but only became recognized at the start of this conflict."

"Was this before, or after these 'Abyssals' showed up?" Levi asked.

"Nearly simultaneous actually. The Battle of L.A., the Sydney Incident, and the Mediterranean Raid, all happened within the same day. Whether this was intentional or not is still argued, but so far it does seem like it." Switching to another file, Umbra looked up to see Levi's frown. "Don't look too put out. At least we've got something though…"

"Oh?"

"Yes. You asked our 'friends' what an Abyssal actually was, remember? Well apparently there's a good number of theories, but the ones that the military are operating on is that they're similar to ship-girls, in that they are manifested spirits of naval ships, but are brought into being by something they haven't been able to identify as anything other than 'The Abyss'. And that they are very, VERY angry with humanity."

"For what reason? This seems like one hell of a campaign they're doing after all, especially if it's been for as long as they seem to have been doing this…?"

"Five years now, yes. And reasonings are apparently rather vague. The notes I've come across state that the Abyssals are apparently out for revenge because they think humans have wronged them, using them and discarding them, and therefore want humanity to suffer or be destroyed."

"...Seriously? Because they've been _wronged_? We're _ships_ , it's kind of our nature to be useful to our makers, isn't it? Why would they have built us if they weren't going to do so? This is sounding like a bad ghost story for a camp-out, not a reason for all out war..."

Umbra shrugged. "Who can say? It's not like we've that much in common with them to know why they think that way. Though it does explain why everyone's mistaken _you_ for one…"

"Huh? Why?"

"Can you really deny that you came back looking to make the Covenant pay for what they did?" Umbra said with a sharp glare, causing Levi's lips to firm up into a sneer.

"Point," she growled out. "So… what, they just paint any angry ship as an Abyssal?"

"I'm pretty sure the whole shark-motif didn't dissuade it either, Levi. It doesn't seem to be a common theme for locals either…" Umbra replied. "I can only assume that it had to do with… Well, from what I can tell, using pieces of Abyssal hardware has some... negative side-effects for those around it. They've advised publicly that all such materials are to be given over to the authorities due to the possibility of toxicity or contamination."

Levi raised an eyebrow at that. "Any evidence that points to that being true, or just paranoia?"

"On civilian channels, a bunch of stories, some saying that nothing happens, others with no doubt greatly exaggerated horror stories or outright fiction… But the military channels do have warnings about it. Abyssals apparently like to augment their smaller caliber rounds with chemical weapons or toxins, and apparently there are psychological occurrences…"

"Like?"

"Haven't gotten too far in yet… Just that they're enough to make it a legitimate worry, and that anyone showing signs of mental distress are to be reported immediately."

The blue-haired cruiser frowned at that. "So it's some kind of radiation then? Or an infection?"

"Not a biological one I think, otherwise they'd be using far stricter methods to quarantine it. No, likely something either dealing with low-level radiation or just plain toxicity. But the fact that we've apparently got it in our system… Well…" Levi's eyes snapped to Umbra's, practically demanding that she continue, to which the prowler sighed. "The pale skin, the black plating… Those are visible signs of 'Abyssalization' according to the reports. It's what marks one as them, since so far no regular 'ship-girl' has shown those features. They all come into being looking like young women, or occasionally men, of an otherwise 'normal' human form. There are some outliers, but…"

Levi looked down at her skin, both at the paleness of it and the smooth, black lines of her crest. "So we're, what, 'infected' for lack of a better term?"

"It would seem so. I'm still looking into it."

"God forbid that ONI doesn't have a lid on all the info around…"

Umbra gave a pout at that. "I've only had a few days Levi… Cut me _some_ slack, hmmm? Bitch," she said, muttering the last part.

"Slut," was Levi's immediate response.

"...I can see that this is going to be an interesting partnership in the future," the red-eyed ship-girl replied.

"Speaking of, I noticed you talking to yourself lately. Is that the voices in your head, or did Hephaestus really come back with you?"

Levi frowned again. "He's here, yes… Why, did you come back with one?"

"You honestly expect me to answer that?"

Levi rolled her eyes. "I guess not. Why do you ask?"

"Mostly because I agree that we should keep him a secret, but that I might want to confer with him once I get some more hard info. In the meantime though, here," she said, pressing a button on her tablet, causing Levi to tilt her head as a data packet was broadcast to her, and she lifted her tacpad up to view it directly. "That's what I've got on local space so far. Sorry it's not much, but…"

"But it's better than nothing… And I can use it to see if the local governments are being above-board with me or not, hmm?"

"Good to see I don't have to hold your hand with this," Umbra said, putting the tablet away and standing up. "Now, with that done, I'm going to go and explore a little more. As fun as it was following you around all day, I'd like to get a few more things looked into."

"Hey, hold up… You're not going to stick around and…?" Leviathan was going to ask, when the likely answer occurred to her. "What am I saying, of _course_ you're not. That would go against your whole 'Spy' schtick, wouldn't it?"

Umbra smiled. "You know me so well… But don't worry, I'll be in touch. And if you really need me, you can just squawk me on the sub-channels. None of the locals seem to use those frequencies, and I doubt they'd have the encryptions anyways."

"Umbra…"

"Ta-ta Lev… Try not to let that cute ass of yours get shot off, okay?" she said, heading for the door.

"Cute? What the…? How would you know what my ass looks like? I didn't even take off my pants during that checkup?"

"I know… but you know that you were spotted above Manila by some civilians, and that news of your intervention got out via the civilian channels, right?"

"Yeah, so…?"

"Apparently the internet works fast… Ta-ta! And try not to kill anyone," she said, pulling up the hood of her cloak and disappearing, opening and closing the door quietly as the blood drained from Leviathan's face.


	21. Datasheet 1

AN: Just a little something to tide you all over as I write up the next chapter, and unlike the omakes, this IS canon to the story. I know some of you were asking in regards to this info, so... Here you go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kantai Collection or Halo, please don't sue me, I'm broke!

* * *

 **UNSC NAVAL REGISTRY - FILE 12004789-SG-009**  
 **FILE TYPE: UPDATE OF CAPABILITIES RE: KANMUSUME**

 **Name:** UNSC Leviathan  
 **Hull Number:** CA-684  
 **Aliases:** Levi, _Ju_ -class, "Big Shark"  
 **Class:** Marathon-class Heavy Cruiser  
 **Manufacturer:** UNSC, Reach  
 **Role:** Attack, Command, Defence, Flagship

 **Hull Specifications:**  
 **Length:** 1,192 meters (3,910 feet)  
 **Width:** 292 meters (960 feet)  
 **Height:** 375 meters (1,230 feet)  
 **Mass:** 9.8 million tons  
 **Power Plant:** Deuterium Fusion Reactors  
 **Engine(s):** Fusion Drives  
 **Slipspace Drive:** Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine  
 **Shielding:** None  
 **Hull:** 191 cm (75 inches) Titanium-A Battleplate  
 **Navigation:** NAVCOM, AI  
 **Crew:** 1,000 sailors

 **Kanmusu Specifications:**  
 **Height:** 6'5"  
 **Weight:** 175 lbs  
 **Hair color:** Dark Blue  
 **Eye color:** Yellow  
 **Ethnicity:** Romanian/Hungarian

 **Distinguishing marks:**  
4 tattoos denoting Fairy/Gremlin complement  
Tooth-like tattoos on ankles  
Tribal patterns on shoulders and arms

 **Armament:**  
Two Magnetic Accelerator Cannons  
50 Point Defence Cannons (50mm HE)  
30 Archer Missile Pods (1,800 missiles, 60 per pod)  
5 Fusion Rockets  
3 Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles  
6 HOIEV grenades  
Tail symbiote

 **Complement:**  
20 Longsword Interceptors (GA-TL1)  
4 Shortswords (B-65)  
2 Pelican Dropships (D77-TC)  
4 Warthogs (M12 FAV)  
2 Scorpion main battle tanks  
600 Marines  
200 ODSTs

 **Service Information:**  
 **Commissioned:** July 2, 2511  
 **Destroyed:** August 30, 2552 (UNSC time)  
 **Summoned:** August 10, 2022 (KEarth time)  
 **Noted Battles:** Hesperix Raid, Orion Campaign, Operation Midnight Firehawk, Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, Fall of Reach  
 **Fleet(s):** Epsilon Eridani Defence Fleet, Battlegroup Leviathan  
 **Commander:** Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth  
 **Affiliation:** UNSC Navy

* * *

 **Name:** UNSC Edge of Umbra  
 **Hull Number:** PRO-10079  
 **Aliases:** Umbra  
 **Class:** Razor-class Prowler, Corvette  
 **Manufacturer:** Classified  
 **Role:** Stealth infiltration and exfiltration, Electronic warfare and intelligence, Mine laying

 **Hull Specifications:**  
 **Length:** 162 meters (530 feet)  
 **Width:** 140 meters (467 feet)  
 **Height:** 80 meters (267 feet)  
 **Mass:** Classified  
 **Power Plant:** Deuterium Fusion Reactors  
 **Engine(s):** Fusion Drives  
 **Slipspace Drive:** Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine  
 **Shielding:** None  
 **Hull:** Classified  
 **Sensor System:** X-ELF Radar System, Mass Spectrometer, LIDAR  
 **Navigation:** NAVCOM, AI  
 **Countermeasures:** Ablative baffles, Counter-Electronic Systems, Matte Black ablative stealth coating, Texture buffers  
 **Crew:** 90 crewman

 **Kanmusu Specifications:**  
 **Height:** 5'8"  
 **Weight:** 148 lbs  
 **Hair color:** Black  
 **Eye color:** Red  
 **Ethnicity:** Romanian/Hungarian  
 **Distinguishing marks:** Invisibility Cloak

 **Armament:**  
14 Hornet Mines  
2 Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles  
2 Pulse Laser turrets  
1 Combat knife  
Unknown additional weaponry

 **Complement:**  
Classified

 **Service Information:**  
 **Commissioned:** Classified  
 **Destroyed:** August 30, 2552  
 **Summoned:** August 10, 2022 (KEarth time)  
 **Noted Battles:** Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, Fall of Reach  
 **Fleet(s):** Epsilon Eridani Defence, Battlegroup Leviathan  
 **Commander:** Classified  
 **Affiliation:** UNSC, Office of Naval Intelligence, UNSC Prowler Corps

* * *

 _Archives of the Abyss_

* * *

 **Name:** Akuma  
 **Aliases:** Warship 111  
 **Hull Type:** Imítheos-class Battleship  
 **Former Affiliation:** Imperial Japanese Navy

 **Armaments:**  
16" Triple Gun mounts  
12.5" Twin Secondary gun mounts  
Cuttlefish Torpedoes  
25mm Triple Autocannon mounts

 **Complement:**  
Flying Fish Dive Bombers  
50 Boarding Imps

 **Known Characteristics:**  
Prideful, sees herself as nobility  
Collects trophies from fallen foes  
Does not conform to only one set of tactics, willingly experiments with multiple strategies  
Despite previous cultural affiliations, is very loyal to fellow Imítheos

 **Known Conflicts:** Sydney Incident, Siege of Pearl, Truk Raid

 **Commentary:** Akuma has shown an intention to remake herself into another Yamato-class ship, though she attempts to downplay this when asked officially if not hide it altogether. Nonetheless, she has shown no signs of defecting to humanity's side, and as such Deep Command has decided to 'allow' these experiments to continue, though with observation. Should her attempts provide a useful means of upgrading our forces, then she will be rewarded, but if detrimental should result in reprimands. In addition, the Imítheos class has been slowly gaining a cult-like following of their own within the sisterhood. They have not acted upon this, nor has the Abyss said anything against it. Regardless, caution should be advised lest they attempt to subvert the forces under their command.

* * *

 **Name:** Leviathan  
 **Aliases:** Guided Missile Princess, Traitor Princess, Flying Demon  
 **Hull Type:** Presumed Heavy Cruiser  
 **Former Affiliation:** UNSC (presumed United Nations Security Council)

 **Armaments:**  
Unknown Type Cannon  
Multiple automatic guns (minimum 4" caliber)  
Guided Missiles

 **Complement:**  
20 Flying Destroyers (tentatively named 'Hellbats')  
4 Flying Missile destroyers (tentatively named 'Fatbats')  
2 Flying Transports (tentatively named 'Bloatfish')  
Land forces (tentatively named 'Hell-fairies')

 **Known Characteristics:**  
Vehemently human-aligned  
Attempts verbal and radio communications before conflict (possible vector for psychological attack?)  
Adept at close quarters  
Tail-symbiote functions as primary cannon  
Displays no attempts at psychic communion (Possible flaw, malfunction, or choice?)  
Coordinates with aerial complement well, caution is advised  
Armor scheme capable of shrugging off 12" shells  
Missiles vulnerable when hatches open before launch

 **Known Conflicts:** Battle of Manila, Raid of Manicani (Presumed)

 **Commentary:** Be extremely wary when sighting this subject. This vessel has shown tremendous capability as a solo combatant, and will likely become even more dangerous when working alongside other human-aligned craft. All efforts should be made to learn more information about this traitor before engaging, and should not be engaged without preparation. It is unknown what nationality created her, but all intelligence forces are to prioritize information gathering immediately. Any information in regards to the origin of this hull is to be turned over to Deep Command immediately.

 **Addendum:** The classification of 'Princess' in regards to Leviathan is subject to change, pending confirmation of her origin and capabilities.

* * *

 **Begin Transmission:**

 _ **Cetus:**_ Who in the HELLS authorized something like THIS to be summoned up?

 _ **Central:**_ We're still trying to figure that out ourselves. It wasn't anyone in our jurisdiction, that's for sure.

 _ **Cetus:**_ Well whoever did is going to be sucking on a sulphur vent for the next few years if we don't figure out what this bitch is doing out here. The Siege commander at Manila said that she spoke English, not Japanese. And with those missiles... is she American?

 _ **Central:**_ Again, we don't know. I'll forward our findings to Wreck and her sister. If anyone in our ranks knows anything about the Americans having another guided missile type ship back in the Pacific War, it'd be them.

 _ **Cetus:**_ And if they don't?

 _ **Central:**_ Then we have a serious problem... On the positive side, the Taniwha managed to dredge up one of the shells she used on Nian, so we may be able to figure out at least what she's using.

 _ **Cetus:**_ A single cannon shell doesn't tell us how she came to fight a Princess and win though. I may have disliked Nian, but she was still an important rallying point for our forces in the South China Sea.

 _ **Central:**_ Be that as it may, we will make do, and no doubt she'll be more than willing to make up for lost time once we rebuild her.


	22. Chapter 18: Old Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Kantai Collection, please don't sue me.

Author's Note: Okay, enough procrastinating! Now, I've had several issues over the past couple of months. Been hospitalized twice, sick again after that, dealing with issues at work, and then bouncing back and forth between places… But the real issue was that I had set myself to wanting to post chapters in excess of five to ten thousand words each from now on… And I think that that might have been a bit too ambitious at this point in the fic. Now, that doesn't mean I haven't been writing, but trying to put multiple scenes into one cohesive at this point I think is too much to chew on at once. SO! I'm breaking them into smaller chapters so that I won't feel overwhelmed and not doing good enough, and also so that you guys aren't waiting another month or so for me to have the free time to post it. I realize that that might be a bit of a letdown for some, but… meh, what can I do? I don't want to burn out and have the story end before it gets to the good parts, so I'm doing what I have to. I also updated chapter 3 to fix some errors that I meant to do. In the meantime, enjoy! And pardon the language!

* * *

[Fucking... cunt… mothering... barnacle… birthing... _shit_... _steaming_... _FLYING_... _**BITCH!**_ ] came the enraged mental voice of a female, along with the sound of chunks of concrete powdering itself from a series of angry kicks. [I HAD that fucking city! I HAD IT! IHADITIHADITIHADITIHADITIHADIT! Abyss take it! I nearly had the entire fucking battle and that... _SLAG_ just... fucking… _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHH!_ ]

[Enough Lusoria, we get it. It's been nearly a week since the battle, we've all heard already...]

[Oh fuck off Drum! I'm allowed to vent if I damn well want to! This was my chance to shine and now it's been RUINED!]

The two speakers each had the pale skin of the Abyss, as well as the glowing eyes of their kind. Both of them also wore a more roughened, battle-worn version of an army's combat uniform, tattered and and with nationality marks removed. However, that was where the similarities ended. Lusoria wore a helmet upon her head with two glowing eye sockets spilling silver light from them on either side, while a row of teeth made up the brim of the headgear. Her uniform lacked sleeves, revealing toned arms while a set of horribly scratched dog tags dangled from her neck, while short white hair framed her angry face. The other, Drum, wore a scorched and salt-soaked jacket that was opened enough to reveal the ample curves of her bosom, accentuated by the cracks that extended upwards from her heart that glowed with an inner fire. Her hands were scorched black, and left little burning trails along the concrete walls as she poked at them, while her legs had similar burning cracks going down where they weren't covered by knee-high black leather boots or her short skirt. Lusoria's eyes were a sky-blue, while Drum's turquoise ones were framed by two locks of black hair that escaped from the ponytail that she wore it in underneath her cap.

[Vent all you want, but don't do it while you're in my halls, got it? I'm busted up enough, thank you very much,] Drum said, lifting a cigarette to her lips while tapping the tip to light it, causing her comrade to fume for a moment before plunking herself down onto the floor.

[Ugh… I'm surprised that this place is still standing. You'd figure the humans would have blasted you to pieces already just on the off chance, you know?] the shorter of the pair said, motioning for a cigarette herself.

[I suppose the fact that I haven't manifested enough to attack them makes them hesitant to give me any reason to do so. I'm fairly certain that they know we're using my location to spy on them, but as long as they don't see any provocation, they've got enough to worry about without giving me reason to become aggressive,] Drum said, handing a cancer stick to her fellow Abyssal. A year and a half ago the Abyss had managed to call her to their aid, using her not as a stationary battleship or base like the humans had in previous years, but instead as an observatory outpost. She observed the various comings and goings of the human fleets from her rusted, burnt out shell, eyeing them all with a combination of jealousy and scorn. Yet during the times that the humans would send a patrol near her, she hid her consciousness deep within the tunnels below her, hiding from even the senses of those shipgirls who would occasionally plant booby traps or the like, which would be disabled by her upon their leaving. These tunnels also served another purpose, as they allowed for a hidden supply depot to be placed on the seafloor at her roots for use by the submarines, as well as temporary holding cells for those times when they managed to grab a prisoner.

All in all, this meant that the former Fort Drum was considered something of a front-line, constantly on alert yet also laying low so as to not be seen. A bunker upon the sea that, while known, was not acted upon due to the lack of aggression shown. Even after being summoned forth, Drum's turrets remained rusted in their place, silent and useless as the Abyssal had to keep up the appearance of remaining asleep, even having to tolerate the existence of one of the human's radar sets placed atop of her just to keep up the ruse.

[Still, none can deny how effective your troops were in that attack, no? From what the radio was blaring, it was like some video game horror movie come to life for them. I even heard one radio station claiming that the 'End Times were here' and that they should all just lay down and die. That's a rather extreme reaction to get nowadays….]

Lusoria grinned. [Hehe, yeah… I caught that as well. God below, that would have been the perfect cherry on top of it all for me… Just makes it worse that it was taken away though.]

Drum smacked her comrade's shoulder. [Enough with the gloom. If you can get a response like that from them on this occasion, you can lay bets you'll get similar ones in the next one, and the one after that. I doubt that Command is going to forget the type of impact that it's left. So what if some new bitch crashed the party? She can't be everywhere at once, so you'll get more than one more time to shine! If anything, it's a time to celebrate, you know?]

[Yeah, yeah…] the former troopship said as she slumped back and took another puff on her cigarette. [Guess you're right. Even if it went pear-shaped, we still gave a good shellacking to them… They're going to spend years recovering from that, if we even allow them that time.]

[Of course I'm right! You should know that I'm always right by now!] Drum replied haughtily, causing the other Abyssal to snort.

[Suuuuure…. And I suppose that the Australian Harbour Princess not falling for the Chinese Battleship Princess was just a ruse then?]

[SHUSH! She's in total denial that one, I know it!]

[Careful there Drum, I think you're mistaking her for your mirror again!]

* * *

As the two Abyssals continued to bicker back and forth, another grinned as she set aside the headphones from her own underwater base, having been listening in through the equipment that surrounded her. Though she wasn't aware of how it worked in full, the equipment was supposed to act similar to a radio's transceiver, but working with dreams and psychic communication instead. Originally it belonged to another, a foe that the current owner had sent back to the deep, yet even with the lack of technical knowledge she'd been able to keep it up and running.

'Hmmm, things are getting more and more interesting…' she thought to herself, tapping a pale yet dainty chin with black-gloved fingers. Ice-blue eyes moved to the side where a young destroyer was doodling on a set of laminate sheets, before giving a sigh. [Thatcher, do you think you could slip over to the docks and ask Corvina to come up here, please? I have something I want her to check into…]

The young girl seemed to startle a bit at the older Abyssal, before grinning. [Sure thing boss! I'll be back in a jiffy!] she said, before heading towards the airlock door at the back, leaving her superior alone for a moment.

Sighing again now that there weren't any listeners, the one known as the Light Cruiser Demon stretched her arms back and let a few pops sound out from her keel, before settling back into her chair. [Ugh… You'd think that people would want to plan out how they were going to replace their numbers after a failed assault, but nooooo… Everyone's gotta obsess over the new and shiny instead,] she muttered. [Though they have been wising up at least a little over the last year… Maybe I should try using a little more deliberate misinformation? Hmmm…]

Looking over at the desk to her right, the Demon shuffled through a few files, noting one in particular that she had been keeping an eye on. Outwardly, the file had only a few sheets in it, depicting a man that had been in the war since day one, and one that she had had a personal theory that he should have gotten help for his issues long before this point. A moment of indecision passed, the woman's eyes narrowing as she weighed the pros and cons of her idea before settling on a decision. [Alright then, I suppose we can see what's to find out from the other side of things,] she said, turning a few dials and putting her headphones back over her ears. [Come on Settle, let's see if we can't shunt those old dreams to the side for one night, hmm? Mama needs some good news for once...]


End file.
